By David Lawder
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury on Thursday said Ethan Zindler, a climate and clean energy research executive, has been named the department's new climate counselor, charged with leading its efforts to unlock financing to achieve a net-zero carbon emissions economy.
Zindler replaces John Morton, who stepped down in December from running Treasury's "climate hub" to return to the private climate finance sector. The hub is aimed at coordinating climate policy, playing a strong role in the green energy incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act and negotiating with South Africa and Indonesia on Just Energy Transition Partnerships.
Zindler most recently served as head of the Americas division at BloombergNEF (BNEF), a provider of data, research and analysis on clean power, electric vehicles, carbon credit markets, commodities and other low-carbon economy initiatives. He managed BNEF research analysts in New York, Washington, London and Sao Paulo.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement that Zindler "will bring analytical rigor and decades of experience in the climate space to this role and to the Treasury Department, and he will build on the Climate Hub's strong track record of results."
He will advise Yellen on the further implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act and efforts to help other countries meet their climate goals. Treasury's climate hub brings together resources and expertise from its domestic finance, economic policy, international affairs and tax policy divisions.