London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

John Kerry exits climate advisory board to join Biden administration

John Kerry exits climate advisory board to join Biden administration

John Kerry will resign from his position as chairman of a climate advisory board in order to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest with his role in a Biden administration.

Kerry, who was named special envoy on climate for projected President-Elect Joe Biden, plans to step aside as chairman of the advisory board at Climate Finance Partners, according to a transition spokesperson.

When asked whether Kerry would divest his stake in the firm, the spokesperson did not respond. The size of Kerry’s stake has not been declared and Climate Finance Partners did not reply to FOX Business' request for comment.

Kerry will comply with all applicable ethics standards and conflicts of interest rules and disclose pertinent information as he did in 2013 after becoming Secretary of State under former President Barack Obama, officials said.


"These types of conflict of interest are not a Democrat or Republican problem but one that both sides of the aisle should address more broadly," said Aaron Hill, assistant professor in the management department of the Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida.

First, "anytime a good government official is in a place to make a decision that has potential to also help or hurt him or her personally (here, financially), how objective can he or she be? We ask our judges to recuse themselves if they have conflicts of interest – why should other officials not be expected to do the same?" he asked. "Second, even if an official is objective and the conflict of interest does not affect his or her decision, there is always some degree of doubt as to the true intent behind the decision if the decision happens to also benefit him or her personally."

Climate Finance Partners in July backed the launch of the KFA Global Carbon exchange-traded fund. The ETF tracks the three most-active markets for carbon credits, which are one of the main vehicles used to regulate greenhouse gases under the 2015 Paris Agreement. KFA has net assets of almost $12.5 million.



Kerry spearheaded U.S. entry into the climate deal, which was abandoned by President Trump in 2017 amid sharp criticism from environmentalists. Biden said he plans to rejoin the Paris Agreement on day one of his presidency.

Trading carbon credits is not a new idea in the U.S.

The Chicago Climate Exchange was founded in 2003, becoming North America’s first voluntary, legally binding greenhouse gas reduction and trading system. The exchange was backed by the Joyce Foundation, where Obama was a board member and attracted investors including Goldman Sachs and Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management.

The exchange went bust in 2010 after Kerry’s cap-and-trade proposal cleared the House of Representatives but was not taken up in the Senate. The bill died when Republicans won the lower chamber in the 2010 midterm election.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×