The big disappointment is John Kerry as a cabinet-level special envoy for climate. As a negotiator, Mr. Kerry never drives a hard bargain, as his Iran nuclear deal showed. His cabinet status suggests that climate will be a special negotiating priority rather than one issue among many in foreign policy. Why can’t Mr. Blinken handle it?

Perhaps this is meant to be diplomatic theater to appease the climate left. But it is a bad signal if Mr. Biden considers climate to be a leading national security issue. The fracking-led boom in U.S. oil and gas production has enhanced American security in multiple ways.

It has made the U.S. less dependent on foreign producers and the U.S. economy less hostage to the vagaries of the world oil market. The fall in oil prices, thanks in part to U.S. production, has reduced the clout of dictators in oil-producing countries like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. U.S. natural gas sales also enhance America’s exports and economic influence.