Hillary Clinton to head US delegation to UN earth summit

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will lead the U.S. delegation at the upcoming United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (dubbed Rio+20) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the State Department announced Tuesday.

Also in the U.S. delegation for the big June 20-22 summit: EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, and Todd Stern, who is the State Department’s special envoy for climate change. 

Stern, who has seen his share of diplomatic battles over climate change, will serve as chief U.S. negotiator. While the conference is certainly getting high-level attention, environmental groups had wanted President Obama to lead the U.S. team.

“Your presence at this Summit would signal its critical importance to all Americans, demonstrate our country’s deep concern over urgent global issues that will inevitably affect our security and well-being, and highlight our nation’s determination to be a contender in the race to a low-carbon green economy,” nearly two-dozen groups such as the Environmental Defense Fund, the Sierra Club, American Rivers, and Greenpeace wrote to Obama in mid-May.

The letter, available here, also lays out what the groups say the U.S. team should advocate for at the summit.

Via the State Department, here’s more of the U.S. team that will attend Rio+20.

•    Ambassador Thomas A. Shannon, Jr., Ambassador of the United States to Brazil
•    Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality
•    Kerri-Ann Jones, Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
•    Ambassador Elizabeth Cousens, U.S. Representative to the UN Economic and Social Council
•    Carlos Pascual, Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs, Department of State
•    Reta Jo Lewis, Special Representative for Global Intergovernmental Affairs, Department of State
•    Kris Balderston, Special Representative for Global Partnerships, Department of State
•    Don Steinberg, Deputy Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development
•    Elizabeth L. Littlefield, President and CEO, Overseas Private Investment Corporation