Podesta-led White House team tagged to execute climate law

President Joe Biden on Monday will announce creation of a new White House team, to be led by senior adviser John Podesta, that will oversee spending of the $369 billion in climate incentives included in the Inflation Reduction Act, according to an executive order obtained by POLITICO.

Creation of the new office represents the Biden administration's efforts to pivot from passing historic climate legislation to implementing its provisions in a way that helps achieve the president's goal of cutting U.S. emissions in half by the end of this decade. The new office, which will collaborate with the existing White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy, will have responsibility for structuring the law’s grant programs, clarifying language for tax credits and touting its economic and jobs potential.

Ali Zaidi, Biden’s next national climate adviser, is expected to take the lead on broader national climate policy and will report directly to Biden. His focus will include actions to clamp down on emissions from the oil and gas industry, power sector and other contributors to climate change.

The White House will give Podesta a team within the Executive Office of the President under the newly created White House Office on Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation. The order emphasized the new office, working in tandem with the climate policy office, would help speed clean energy deployment, reduce the cost of energy efficient appliances, boost U.S. domestic manufacturing that would create more jobs, put electric vehicles on the road and lower energy costs.

Scientists and activists have warned that the White House must not squander the law’s opportunities because nations are far off from meeting global climate targets to keep temperatures in check, and U.S. progress — given its status as the world’s largest economy and historical contributor to climate change — is crucial.

But even successfully executing the Inflation Reduction Act is not enough to meet Biden’s climate target, with independent models suggesting it will slash planet-heating gases 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 — 10 percentage points shy of Biden’s mark.

The White House tasked Zaidi, who will report directly to Biden as Gina McCarthy’s successor, with making up a bulk of that difference. His portfolio will include finding more emissions cuts through new regulations and actions across federal agencies that the administration largely held at bay to avoid disrupting delicate talks on Capitol Hill.

Separately, the executive order also makes Podesta the chair of the National Climate Task Force, with Zaidi serving as vice chair. That task force includes agency chiefs and top White House personnel. Podesta will also co-chair a White House working group to expand clean energy and economic development in coal communities and serve on an interagency council designed to address neighborhoods facing disproportionate amounts of pollution.