Biden named Pakistani American political advisor and lawyer Ali Zaidi Deputy White House National Climate Advisor. He assumed office on January 20, 2021, and will serve under National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy.
Zaidi has held roles in federal and state government, as a professor, and as an attorney in private practice. He is most recognized for advancing the Obama-Biden administration’s climate plans as a senior official. Zaidi also acted as a Precourt Scholar at the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University.
The Carnegie Corporation of New York named Zaidi in their 2021 Great Immigrants list. The philanthropic foundation honored Zaidi’s work as a deputy climate advisor.
Ali Zaidi’s career in the White House
From 2020-2021, Zaidi was Deputy Secretary for Energy and Environment under New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. He also served as Chairman of Climate Policy and Finance for the state of New York during that time.
Zaidi held several roles in the White House under the Obama administration. President Obama appointed Zaidi Associate Director for Natural Resources, Energy, and Science at the Office of Management and Budget in 2014. Prior to this, he was Deputy Director of Energy Policy for the Domestic Policy Council. He also held the role of Senior Director for Cabinet Affairs. In 2010, Zaidi worked as a policy aide to Energy Secretary Steven Chu.
After Obama’s presidency, Zaidi assumed Senior Advisor positions at the law firms Morrison & Foerster and Kirkland & Ellis. The lawyer and policy advisor also became a Fellow with Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. He taught economic and technology policy at Stanford University as an Adjunct Professor. There, Zaidi also co-founded the Lawyers for a Sustainable Economy. The initiative connects environmentally sustainable startups with pro-bono legal services.
Zaidi has also served as Director for the NGO The Center for Carbon Removal and of the non-profit America’s Promise Alliance. He was a Trustee for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Five-year-old Ali Zaidi immigrated from Pakistan
Zaidi was born in Pakistan. At five years old, he moved to Edinboro, Pennsylvania with his family in 1993.
“I moved to a community that embraced my family, a family that was very different,” he recalled. “It was a community that helped us get on our feet and chase after our dreams. That’s the America that I think my parents saw as a beacon across the ocean.”
“In addition to this incredible community, I got the chances that I got in my life because there were folks who had fought for policies in Washington, policies like food stamps, policies like subsidized housing through the USDA, policies like ESL classes and Pell Grant,” Zaidi said in an interview. “My take on that is I love the American dream and from that came a responsibility to make it more accessible to folks.”
Zaidi earned his B.A. from Harvard College. He earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center where he served as editor of The Georgetown Law Journal.
Ali Zaidi returns to the White House
Zaidi is the first Deputy National Climate Advisor alongside the first-ever National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy. Under Obama, Zaidi served as a chief policy official for the administration’s Climate Action Plan. He also helped negotiate the Paris accord. McCarthy previously led the Environmental Protection Agency.
“We need a whole-of-government approach to take on the climate crisis — in a way that spurs jobs and advances justice,” Zaidi tweeted in December 2020. “I was floored when President-elect @JoeBiden called. I still am — profoundly humbled, deeply honored, and so ready to get to work!”
Zaidi joins many other public servants in Biden’s White House, including Federal Trade Commission Chairperson Lina Khan.
