In the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump repeatedly promised that he would pull America out of the Paris climate deal and he has. The decision wasn't met without resistance, with CEOs like Tim Cook and Elon Musk among many who opposed the decision.
Leaving The Paris Accord
Trump made the announcement on Thursday, June 1, that the United States would be pulling out of the Paris climate deal that was signed in 2015. The deal, which was signed by 190 other countries, is a global initiative to cut carbon emissions and invest in clean energy. Trump's reasons were that the deal was not favorable to America and that the accord would result in lost jobs. He did say that if the deal was re-negotiated "in America's favor," then he would re-commit to the deal.
This makes the United States one of now three countries that hadn't signed on. The other two that didn't agree were Syria and Nicaragua.
Syria has been engulfed in civil war since 2011, which had demands that superseded anything else going on for the country. Add to that the sanctions and pressures from the international community on the country's leadership made involvement non-existent.
Nicaragua, on the other hand, felt the deal didn't go far enough. Paul Oquist, Nicaragua's representative in Paris in 2015, explained that the voluntary nature of the deal and lack of punishments didn't make the deal appealing. He explained that President Daniel Ortega's stance was that richer, first-world countries should be paying more to climate change efforts given the greater impact they have had on the climate.
CEO Opposition
As implied above, the reason for the leaving was based on more nationalistic ideas, believing America came out on the short end of the stick with the deal. However, many top CEOs did try to dissuade Trump from leaving the Paris deal in the days before the announcement was made.
To that end, it was reported by Bloomberg that Cook had called the White House in an effort to change Trump's mind on the matter. This isn't the first time Cook has found himself at opposite ends with the current President on the matter. Earlier this year, Apple and several other companies were in vocal opposition to executive orders undoing climate protections and regulations put in place by Barack Obama. Cook tried to appeal to Trump's nationalistic ideals by implying that leaving the deal could leave America at a disadvantage technologically and in job creation.
Musk was also against the decision, trying his best through to dissuade Trump using contacts he has in the White House. In a series of tweets, Musk expressed disappointment for the decision and revealed he would no longer serve as an adviser for the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative or the Strategic and Policy Forum.
Cook and Musk are just two of 25 CEOs who have voiced their opposition to this decision.
