Months back, Elon Musk announced that he intended to withdraw from the advisory councils of the White House because of US Pres. Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris climate change agreement.
The chief executive of Tesla tweeted:
"I am departing the presidential councils I belong in. Climate change is very real. Leaving the Paris agreement does not do any good for America nor for the rest of the world."
According to Musk, he already did everything he could to change Pres. Trump’s mind to remain in the agreement instead. However, there was nothing that could change the President’s decision.
Elon Musk is the founder of Tesla, SpaceX and other companies. He was invited to be part of the infrastructure council, policy and strategic forum, and manufacturing jobs council. Musk also noted in a tweet that because of the Paris agreement, China has committed to use and produce clean electricity by the year 2030.
The CEO of General Electric, Jeff Immelt, is also a member of the business councils of the White House. In a tweet, he said he is very disappointed with Trump's decision. "I am disappointed with Trump's latest announcement which was to pull the country out of the Paris deal. Industry must now take the lead, instead of depending on the government."
The official removal of the United States from the climate change accord may take a maximum of 4 years to be completed. This means the final decision will depend on the voters, during the general election on 2020. However, in the meantime, revoking the participation of the United States in the deal is putting the nation in company with the 2 other nations that don't belong to the agreement: Nicaragua and Syria.
For Trump, the decision is his way of fulfilling a promise that he made during his campaign. In his speech, he emphasized the fact that there is a need for a deal that’s fair to the country. According to him, he will start the negotiations on reentering the Paris accord. However, there must be new terms that prove to be "fair" for the US. He noted that it’s time they make Pittsburgh their priority instead of Paris.
Pittsburgh's mayor, Bill Peduto, said that he does not share the same sentiment as Trump.
"I will assure you, we will follow Paris Agreement's guidelines and we will do so for our future, economy, and people."
A few days after Trump's announcement, the CEO and co-founder of Salesforce, Marc Benioff, posted a letter on his Twitter account. In the letter, he said that climate change presented business opportunities and business risks at the same time. If the country continues to participate in the agreement, the economy and the businesses in the US would benefit in many ways.
