BusinessDonald TrumpClimate Changeparis climate agreement

Big Business Demands Donald Trump Keep U.S. In Paris Climate Pact

Failure to do so “puts American prosperity at risk,” more than 300 U.S. companies say in an open letter to the president-elect.
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By 

Senior Reporter, HuffPost

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President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly called climate change a hoax.
Robyn Beck via Getty Images

As Donald Trump surrounds himself with like-minded climate change deniers, big business is demanding the Republican president-elect keep the U.S. in the historic Paris climate agreement and focus on building a low-carbon economy. 

Failure to do so “puts American prosperity at risk,” Nike, eBay, The North Face and hundreds of other U.S. companies wrote in an open letter Wednesday addressed to Trump, President Barack Obama, members of Congress and global leaders.

“We, the undersigned members in the business and investor community of the United States, re-affirm our deep commitment to addressing climate change through the implementation of the historic Paris Climate Agreement,” the companies wrote. “We want the US economy to be energy efficient and powered by low-carbon energy. Cost-effective and innovative solutions can help us achieve these objectives.”

In addition to pledging to do their part to help prevent global temperatures from increasing 2 degrees Celsius ― the “magic number” scientists say the world must stay below to prevent the very worst effects of climate change ― the companies said they will continue to support world leaders as they work to tackle the global crisis.

Trump, who prides himself on his business savvy, has repeatedly called climate change a “hoax” and promised to pull the U.S. out of the Paris deal. He has also said he would cut all federal spending on the issue, increase America’s production of coal, oil and natural gas, and do away with Obama administration regulations aimed at cutting emissions.

Following through on those promises would certainly satisfy the oil and gas industry’s wish list. However, he could very well stir a hornet’s nest within remaining business sectors.

IKEA, Starbucks Coffee, Gap Inc., General Mills, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hilton, Kellogg Co., L’Oreal, Levi Strauss & Co., Virgin and Patagonia were also among the more than 300 companies to sign the letter, which was announced at United Nations climate talks in Morocco. 

Matt Patsky, CEO of Boston-based Trillium Asset Management, said in a statement that the “enormous momentum” to address climate change cannot be reversed or ignored by Trump. 

“That train has left the station, and to stand in its way is folly,” he said. “Nevertheless, we know that now is the time to remind the incoming administration that virtually every company in the Fortune 500 and over $100 trillion in investor assets has acknowledged the reality of climate change and the need to address it head on.”

“The Paris agreement was a vital step forward, but its power is in our collective action,” Lara Birkes, chief sustainability officer at Hewlett Packard Enterprise added. “Business and government leaders must urgently work together to drive a thriving, low-carbon economy.”

CORRECTION: A previous version of this post said Trillium Asset Management is based in California. It is headquartered in Boston.

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Before You Go

Donald Trump's Environment Guy Doesn't Believe In Climate Change
He does not believe in climate change.(01 of11)
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“There has been a little bit of warming ... but it’s been very modest and well within the range for natural variability, and whether it’s caused by human beings or not, it’s nothing to worry about,” Ebell told Vanity Fair in 2007.

More than 97 percent of scientists agree that the world's climate is warming and it’s caused by human activities. Yet Ebell believes this consensus of climate experts is “phony” and “not based on science.”

In 2015, Ebell called Pope Francis’ encyclical on climate change “scientifically ill informed, economically illiterate, intellectually incoherent and morally obtuse.”

“It is also theologically suspect, and large parts of it are leftist drivel,” he added. (credit:Getty Images)
Even if climate change is real, he believes there’ll be 'benefits.'(02 of11)
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In a 2006 opinion piece, titled “Love Global Warming,” Ebell waxed lyrical about the potential “benefits” of climate change.

“Yes, rising sea levels, if they happen, would be bad for a lot of people. But a warming trend would be good for other people,” he wrote.

There would be “fewer and less severe big winter storms,” he claimed. And “life in many places would become more pleasant. Instead of 20 below zero in January in Saskatoon, it might be only 10 below. And I don’t think too many people would complain if winters in Minneapolis became more like winters in Kansas City.”

Ebell’s op-ed was full of fallacies.

For one, according to the EPA (which, again, is the agency that Ebell has been tapped to lead the transition of), climate change will increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, including winter storms. (credit:Carlos Barria/Reuters)
No surprise, he's not a scientist.(03 of11)
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A self-described “policy wonk,” Ebell has no scientific experience. He graduated from Colorado College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and later studied political theory in the London School of Economics. (credit:YouTube)
He wants to throw out the Clean Power Plan.(04 of11)
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When President Barack Obama unveiled the Clean Power Plan in August last year, it was hailed as the strongest action ever taken by a U.S. commander in chief to combat climate change. The plan, which gives the EPA the authority to regulate carbon pollution from power plants, aims to slash greenhouse gas emissions from power plants by 32 percent by 2030.

Ebell has called the plan “illegal.” He said last year that he hoped the next president would “undo the EPA power plant regs and some of the other regs that are very harmful to our economy.”

Ebell, as the head of the EPA transition, is now “in a position to begin to do just that," The New York Times notes. (credit:Associated Press)
The fossil fuel industry helps finance his advocacy group.(05 of11)
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Ebell directs environmental and energy policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian advocacy group that “questions global warming alarmism and opposes energy-rationing policies, including the Kyoto Protocol, cap-and-trade legislation, and EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions,” according to its website.

The CEI has a long track record of taking money from the fossil fuel industry. It received $2 million from ExxonMobil from 1998 to 2005, according to Vanity Fair.

The Washington Post reported in 2013 that Marathon Petroleum, Koch Industries, American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, and American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers were among the donors for CEI’s annual dinner.

Murray Energy Corporation, America’s largest underground coal mining company (and a critic and litigant of the EPA), was the biggest energy donor of the night.

When asked about this on C-Span in 2015, Ebell — who had at first insisted that he doesn’t “represent” companies — admitted that he wasn’t getting as much money from energy firms as he’d like.

“I’d like to see a lot more funding from all of those companies, but unfortunately many of the coal companies are now going bankrupt,” he said. “I would like to have more funding so that I can combat the nonsense put out by the environmental movement.” (credit:Lee Celano/Reuters)
He helped kill cap-and-trade.(06 of11)
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Ebell previously “helped propel a shift in the political debate around climate change, contributing to the collapse of cap-and-trade legislation in Congress in 2009,” according to Frontline.

The bill, which Ebell called a “disaster,” would have seen limits set on the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted nationally. (credit:Associated Press)
He chairs a group focused on 'dispelling the myths of global warming.'(07 of11)
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The Cooler Heads Coalition, an ad-hoc group that Ebell leads, says its mission is “dispelling the myths of global warming by exposing flawed economic, scientific, and risk analysis.” (credit:Jorge Adorno/Reuters)
He opposes the Paris Agreement on climate change.(08 of11)
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The Paris Agreement, which came into force on Nov. 4, is the most significant climate accord ever signed.

Ebell has been a vocal critic of the deal, calling Obama’s joining of the treaty “unconstitutional.” (credit:How Hwee Young/Getty Images)
He’s worked to reduce protections for endangered species.(09 of11)
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Earlier in his career, Ebell worked for then-Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) in an effort to rework the Endangered Species Act so it would involve “as little regulation as possible” and be “more respectful of property rights.” (credit:Tom Brakefield/Fuse)
He’s lobbied for the tobacco industry.(10 of11)
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Jeremy Symons, senior advisor of the Environmental Defense Fund, says Ebell was involved in a "broad campaign" in the 1990s to help tobacco company Philip Morris make "regulating the tobacco industry ‘politically unpalatable.'"

Philip Morris also funded Ebell's group CEI in the 1990s. At the time, CEI was pushing the idea of “safer cigarettes.” (credit:Associated Press)
He’s proud to be loathed(11 of11)
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In a biography Ebell himself submitted when he testified before Congress, he boasted that he'd been listed by Greenpeace as a "climate criminal" and global warming "misleader" by Rolling Stone magazine.

"The Clean Air Trust in March 2001 named Mr. Ebell its 'Villain of the Month' for his role in convincing the Bush Administration not to regulate carbon dioxide emissions," the bio continued. (credit:Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
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