Climate change is just one of the many global sustainability issues which the U.S. government must address. Many of these are addressed within the State Department by the Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs, a position which Secretary of State Clinton has not yet announced her choice.

However, it is the Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science (OES) whose specific mission is to "advance sustainable development internationally through leadership in oceans, environment, science and health." OES leads the Department's efforts with the Commission on Sustainable Development, working "bilaterally and multilaterally to promote the U.S. government's sustainable development agenda."

One question CitNet members will be raising over this next year is precisely what the new administration's "sustainable development agenda" will be.

Presumably OES will, in conjunction with the Agency for International Development (AID) continue to build upon its Sustainable Development Partnerships (SDP) program, in which they invite "participating in or creating similar public-private partnerships to promote sustainable development around the world."  Model for these parnterships has in past years been based on AID's Global Development Alliance. Presumably some of the philosophy and orientation of this model may change in various ways under the new administration. 

Among is staff of 200, spread out across several different offices, the Office of Environmental Policy especially follows the multilateral processes of the UN Environment Program (UNEP), OECD, and North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC), while the Office of Ecology and Natural Resource Conservation (ENRC) coordinates policy in relation to international treaties and agreements protecting ecosystems (e.g., Convention on Biological Diversity, Convention to Combat Desertification, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, and others). The Office on Global Change focuses especially on climate.