Many were delighted by John Podesta’s decision last week to join President Obama’s White House staff, none more so than the environmental community and the people in charge of the federal agencies that are most responsible for the environment. As counselor to the president, Mr. Podesta, who served as White House chief of staff during President Clinton’s last three years, will have a broad portfolio touching on the economy and congressional relations. But his biggest contribution will be to bring his passion on environmental and energy issues to a president who has to be constantly reminded of their importance.

Mr. Podesta’s appointment should further elevate the issue of climate change in the White House. That is something he cares deeply about. It is also an issue that Mr. Obama has committed himself to; Mr. Podesta’s main task will be to give the Environmental Protection Agency the support it needs to devise new rules controlling greenhouse gases from new and existing power plants, a complex and politically fraught task. And his very presence could influence Mr. Obama’s thinking on the proposed pipeline from Canada’s oil sands — even though Mr. Podesta has said that he will recuse himself from the final decision because the liberal think tank he founded 10 years ago, the Center for American Progress, has been unsparingly critical of the entire enterprise.

Mr. Podesta can be of particular assistance to the interior secretary, Sally Jewell. Ms. Jewell, an engineer by training, had earned widespread praise as chief executive of REI, the recreational equipment retailer and the nation’s largest consumer cooperative. But in her present job, there are enemies everywhere, and, unlike most of her predecessors, she came to it with little political and policy making experience, and no strong connections to the White House.

Mr. Podesta could help her fill those gaps, not least because he believes deeply in the Interior Department’s mission. It was at his urging, and that of Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, that Mr. Clinton became something of a born-again environmentalist in his later years, promoting Everglades restoration, protecting vast areas of the national forests from commercial exploitation, saving redwood forests in California and establishing a dozen or so major national monuments by presidential proclamation.