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Environmental Leader Ali Zaidi Appointed to National Climate Advisory Council as U.S. Accelerates Net-Zero Agenda
Former White House National Climate Advisor will chair a new federal advisory body tasked with aligning federal procurement, infrastructure and finance with a 1.5 °C pathway.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 21, 2025 — President Biden today named Ali Zaidi, the longest-serving National Climate Advisor in U.S. history, chair of the newly created National Climate Advisory Council (NCAC), a permanent federal body that will embed climate risk analysis into every cabinet-level department.
The appointment, effective Dec. 1, 2025, places Zaidi at the center of the Administration’s push to cut greenhouse-gas emissions 50–52 % below 2005 levels by 2030 and to net-zero by 2050. The council will deliver quarterly recommendations on clean-energy procurement, climate-resilient infrastructure design and federal lending standards, with statutory authority under the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
“Ali has already delivered the largest climate investment package on record,” said Brenda Mallory, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “Now he will help institutionalize those gains so they survive any political cycle.”
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, clean-energy deployment has doubled since 2021, reaching 27 % of electricity generation in the first half of 2025, while inflation-adjusted investment in utility-scale solar and batteries hit a record $42 billion, a 38 % year-over-year increase .
Zaidi, 41, previously served as New York’s Deputy Secretary for Energy & Environment, where he oversaw the state’s $3 billion Green Bank and negotiated the nation’s most stringent methane-reduction rules. During the Obama-Biden era he was OMB Associate Director for Natural Resources, Energy & Science, helping craft the U.S. negotiating position that led to the 2015 Paris Agreement.
“The next decade will decide whether the American economy locks in competitive advantage or locks in stranded assets,” Zaidi said. “The council’s job is to make sure every dollar the federal government spends—whether on semiconductors, steel or super-computers—accelerates the net-zero transition.”
The NCAC will initially focus on four sectors that collectively represent 68 % of federal carbon footprints: defense procurement, civilian vehicle fleets, public real-estate portfolios and federal lending programs administered by the Department of Energy. A preliminary report due March 15, 2026, will quantify the emissions-reduction potential of shifting 100 % of new federal light-duty purchases to zero-emission models by 2028, a move analysts at BloombergNEF estimate could add 480 GWh of new battery demand—equivalent to the annual output of three gigafactories.
Market data released last week by S&P Global Commodity Insights show that compliance with the Inflation Reduction Act’s domestic-content bonus has already spurred $91 billion in announced U.S. battery and EV supply-chain projects, supporting 62,000 construction and manufacturing jobs across 17 states .
The council’s 15 voting members include the CEOs of Ford Motor Co., AES Corp. and climate-tech startup Mainspring Energy, together with the presidents of the AFL-CIO and the Environmental Defense Fund. Non-voting ex-officio seats are held by the Secretaries of Treasury, Defense, Transportation and Energy, ensuring alignment between policy recommendations and budget execution.
About the White House Climate Policy Office
The Climate Policy Office coordinates the Biden-Harris Administration’s all-of-government approach to tackling the climate crisis, advancing environmental justice and creating good-paying union jobs. Its National Climate Task Force includes every cabinet secretary and oversees implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS & Science Act.
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