WASHINGTON (Reuters) -White House senior adviser John Podesta will replace John Kerry as U.S. special climate change envoy, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Wednesday.

Kerry announced earlier this month he would step down from the climate job to work on U.S. President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign.

Podesta, 75, has served several Democratic U.S. presidents, including as White House chief of staff to Bill Clinton and as an adviser to Barack Obama. He was chairman of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential run.

“Secretary Kerry has put the U.S. back in leadership on climate around the world,” Podesta told the Washington Post in an interview on Wednesday. “And we’ll ensure that we keep up the momentum that has been built up through his efforts.”

Biden last week paused approvals for pending and future applications to export liquefied natural gas from new projects, a move cheered by climate activists.

(Reporting by Steve Holland, Jasper Ward and Dan Whitcomb; editing by Rami Ayyub and Eric Beech)