© Reuters.
By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – John Morton, the U.S. Treasury’s first climate counselor, is stepping down, effective Friday, but says he is confident his work in coordinating climate change policies across the department will continue – even beyond the Biden administration.
Morton, who left climate change advisory and investment firm Pollination Group to join Treasury in April 2021, told Reuters he was returning to the private sector, but Treasury would hire a replacement and keep operating the “climate hub” he headed.
“I’m really hopeful that we potentially have turned the corner where the economic imperative and the risk associated with inaction … is more firmly understood,” he said in an interview. “I’m hopeful that that will add continuity to the agenda … well beyond the (Biden) administration.”
Morton said targeted hiring over the past two years had also given the department greater climate-related expertise in a range of areas, including economic policy, domestic finance, international affairs and tax policy.
A Treasury official said the department now had dozens of people working on climate-related issues, including a handful of new key senior positions.
Be the first to comment