"President Joe Biden’s new national climate adviser may not have the high profile of his predecessor, but observers say Ali Zaidi’s mix of policy and economic chops are just what the administration needs to execute its agenda.
The former White House adviser, Gina McCarthy, had a charismatic style and name-brand recognition—as a former Environmental Protection Agency administrator—needed to build political support for the infrastructure bill and climate-and-tax law known as the Inflation Reduction Act, observers said. With both bills shifting into the implementation stage, Zaidi’s technocratic skills are now critical.
“It was really important to have a very high-profile figure like Gina McCarthy for the first two years” of the Biden administration, said Christy Goldfuss, the former head of the Council on Environmental Quality who worked with Zaidi when both served under President Barack Obama. “But Ali has the right skill set to deliver. He’s a really unique mix—he gets the big picture, but he can also go super deep into the weeds on how things work.”
Alex Flint, executive director of Alliance for Market Solutions, a conservative group pushing for a carbon tax, agreed that Zaidi is the right person for the moment. The infrastructure and climate bills “are now past the founder phase, and it’s time for implementation,” Flint said."
Stephen Lee reports for Bloomberg Environment October 17, 2022.
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