Elon Musk, DuPont, and HP Call on Trump To Honor the Paris Agreement
More than 630 companies are calling-out President-elect Donald Trump in an open letter. It asks him to keep the promises the United States made during the Paris Agreement and move us closer to a low-carbon economy. But will the private sector have any more luck moving Trump to believe in climate change?
The 2015 Paris Agreement was a landmark achievement. The world’s nations—196 of them—came together in agreement to put promises in place to slow the coming climate change. At its core the Paris Agreement aims to transition the world’s economy away from dependency on fossil fuels, signaling to businesses that the future will be driven by clean energy. More than 630 companies want to continue that trend, agreeing climate change poses a real threat to how we do business.
Trump has lined his cabinet with, mostly, climate change deniers. He has even indicated he may try to withdraw the United States from this agreement. In response, other nations could impose a “carbon tariff” on goods from the United States. Not great for business.
“Failure to build a low-carbon economy puts American prosperity at risk,” the letter states. “But the right action now will create jobs and boost US competitiveness. We pledge to do our part, in our own operations and beyond, to realize the Paris Agreement’s commitment of a global economy that limits global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius.”
Kelloggs was one of the signatories of the letter, and also one of many companies who pulled ads from Breitbart, a right-wing news organization that regularly calls climate change a “hoax” and a “conspiracy.”
As to why Kelloggs pulled their ads from the site, Kris Charles, a spokeswoman for Kelloggs explained: “We regularly work with our media-buying partners to ensure our ads do not appear on sites that aren’t aligned with our values as a company. We recently reviewed the list of sites where our ads can be placed and decided to discontinue advertising on Breitbart.com. We are working to remove our ads from that site.”
It seems climate change is a part of that company’s values. Other companies who signed the letter include Elon Musk’s SolarCity, Adidas, eBay, DuPont, Patagonia and HP. However, it’s difficult to say if these gestures against climate-change denial or in support of the Paris Agreement will sway the President-elect.
