Why Biden's HHS pick matters for climate change policy

Biden said Monday he'll nominate California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be Health and Human Services secretary and announced several other health-related picks too.

Why it matters: Biden's campaign envisioned a substantial role for HHS in addressing the public health effects of global warming and pollution.

• .Biden's campaign platform vowed to launch an "Office of Climate Change and Health Equity" at HHS.
• It also calls for an HHS-led task force to "decrease risk of climate change to children, the elderly, people with disabilities, and the vulnerable."

What's new: The climate group Evergreen Action, which backs those proposals, last night also floated other ideas for how HHS under Becerra can play a "critical role in the national climate mobilization."

• Their ideas include finding ways to "[s]trengthen the resilience of healthcare systems and supply chains in the face of climate impacts, including worsening disasters."
• Another would be to prioritize National Institutes of Health grant funding for "research on the intersections of public health and climate change."

Go deeper: Here's who else is on Biden's health team