WASHINGTON — House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi has appointed Florida Rep. Kathy Castor to lead a special committee on climate change that will be reinstated in the new Congress.

Pelosi, the likely House speaker, said Castor brings experience, energy and “urgency to the existential threat of the climate crisis” facing the United States and the world.

Castor is set to begin her seventh term representing the Tampa Bay area and serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

“Congresswoman Castor is a proven champion for public health and green infrastructure, who deeply understands the scope and seriousness of this threat,” Pelosi said.

Castor said in a statement Friday that she was honored to lead the panel and pledged to “act with urgency to reduce carbon pollution” and “unleash” American ingenuity to create clean-energy jobs.

“The costs of the changing climate and extreme weather events pose greater risks every day to American families, businesses and our way of life,” Castor said.

The climate panel is similar to one that Pelosi created when Democrats last controlled the House from 2007 to 2011. It was eliminated by then-Speaker John Boehner when Republicans took the majority.

The membership and exact scope of the panel remain to be determined, but Pelosi said it will play a key role in shaping how Congress responds to the threat of global warming while creating good-paying, “green” jobs.

Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the incoming House majority leader, said that the panel likely would not have legal authority to demand documents under subpoena. But he added he doesn’t think the panel will need subpoena authority, since experts will be “dying to come before them.”