President-elect Joe Biden will tap Gina McCarthy, who led the Environmental Protection Agency under former President Obama, as White House climate czar, according to a person familiar with the news and multiple reports.
Driving the news: McCarthy will manage domestic climate policy alongside her deputy, Ali Zaidi, New York's current deputy secretary for energy and environment, as first reported by the Washington Post.
Our thought bubble: McCarthy brings a wealth of familiar experience at the federal level given that she pursued Obama's regulatory plan on climate change as his second-term administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
- Zaidi, meanwhile, also served in the Obama administration, but has since implemented New York state's aggressive climate plan as a top adviser to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The intrigue: Though popular with Democrats, McCarthy will be controversial among Republicans given her role as president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has sued the Trump administration more than 100 times for attempts to delay energy efficiency.
Between the lines: These picks, paired with several others, show just how much Biden is leaning on Obama alumni to implement his agenda, on climate change and other issues.