Several prominent business leaders and investors in the global community came out voicing protests against U.S President Trump’s Thursday announcement to leave the Paris Climate Pact.
Who Said What
“Americans are not walking away from the Paris Climate Agreement – just the opposite, we are forging ahead. -Mike Bloomberg.
“Today’s decision is a setback for the environment and for the U.S.’s leadership position in the world.” – Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs CEO.
“Disappointed with today’s decision. Google will keep working hard for a cleaner, more prosperous future for all.” – Sundar Pichai, Google CEO.
More Who's Who“If President Trump won’t lead, the American people will.” – former Vice President Al Gore.
“This Administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future.” – former President Barack Obama.
“Disappointed with today’s decision on the Paris Agreement. Climate change is real. Industry must now lead and not depend on government.” – Jeff Immelt, CEO General Electric.
“Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.” – Elon Musk, CEO Tesla.
What Now
To a certain degree, many business leaders did not find Thursday’s announcement a complete surprise.
“Most of the folks working around energy and climate no longer seem to require policy support,” said Shaun Abrahamson, a managing partner at Urban Us, a venture fund focused on making investments to make cities smarter. “But more than that there seems to be enough businesses and consumers who are committed to climate action.”
While it may too early to tell how markets will react longer term to Trump’s Thursday decision, momentum is on renewable energy’s side.
The U.S. solar industry now employs nearly twice as many workers as oil, gas and coal combined. Tesla’s market capitalization has exceeded Ford’s, by over 20% as it is poised to release more products for the mass consumer. And renewable sources now power 18% of the world’s energy needs.
Xi Jinping made statements in Davos and Beijing this year emphasizing China’s renewed role in a green energy future. Trump’s exit from Paris could open the door for China who is remaining in the pact, but that may prove difficult.
Trump did say he’s open to renegotiating terms of the pact. A number of small businesses in the U.S. were said to have buoyed by Thursday’s decision. But renegotiation may prove difficult given the political capital the President may already spent, the controversies around Russia and the size of his remaining domestic agenda.
Al Gore’s new climate change movie appropriately titled, “An Inconvenient Sequel,” is certain to be more meaningful in context when it opens in July.
All this attention is certain to drive up activity in climate change investing, one silver lining, in a way.
“If we see Washington step back on an issue like climate change, that makes the actions of each of us, as investors, matter a great deal more,” said Andrei Cherny, CEO of Aspiration, which runs the environmentally themed Aspiration Redwood Fund.
Sources: TechCrunch, MarketWatch, Yale Climate Change Study
