President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. reportedly has chosen former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to lead the Department of Energy and former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy to serve as White House climate czar under the new administration.

A two-term governor, Granholm served from 2003-2011. During her tenure, she signed into law bipartisan clean energy and energy efficiency legislation, promoted advanced battery and renewable energy manufacturing in the state, and helped orchestrate the 2009 federal bailout of General Motors Co. and Chrysler.

McCarthy, meanwhile, ran the EPA under President Obama from 2013 to 2017. She oversaw several landmark rulemakings, including the Clean Power Plan in 2015, which set the first national standards for...