Exxon Mobil urges Donald Trump to keep US signed up to Paris Agreement on climate change
The company once run by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the Paris Agreement is 'an effective framework for addressing the risks of climate change'
Rex Tillerson and the company he used to run, Exxon Mobil, both want the US to remain in the Paris Agreement
(
Reuters
)
Oil giant Exxon Mobil is urging Donald Trump to keep the United States signed up to the Paris Agreement on climate change.
In a letter to the President’s special assistant for international energy and the environment, a senior Exxon official described the historic international deal as an “effective framework for addressing the risks of climate change”.
But the letter also suggested it was worthwhile staying at the negotiating table to ensure energy markets “remain as free and competitive as possible”.
Mr Trump promised to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement – which Barack Obama suggested could become seen as the moment the world decided to save the planet – in the run-up to the presidential election.
But Rex Tillerson, the former Exxon chief executive who is now Secretary of State, and the President’s daughter Ivanka Trump are thought to be against the idea of ‘Clexit’ – climate exit – because of the effect on the US’s diplomatic relations.
Other influential figures, such as senior Trump adviser Steve Bannon, former head of far-right news website Breitbart, have insisted the US must leave.
In the letter from Exxon, Peter Trelenberg, the company’s environmental policy and planning manager, said: “It is prudent that the United States remain a party to the Paris agreement to ensure a level playing field, so that global energy markets remain as free and competitive as possible.
“We welcomed the Paris Agreement when it was announced in December 2015 and again when it came into force in November 2016.
“We have reiterated our support on several occasions in opinion pieces and blog posts, most recently by our Chairman and CEO Darren Woods.”
The Paris Agreement, he said, was “an effective framework for addressing the risks of climate change”.
Former US Vice President Al Gore has suggested Mr Trump will ultimately agree with Exxon and his influential daughter despite appointing a string of climate science deniers to key positions in Government.
Exxon is currently under investigation about its actions relating to climate change.
10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change
10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change
1/10
A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica
Kira Morris
2/10
Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050.
Probal Rashid
3/10
Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent.
Tom Schifanella
4/10
Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others.
Hira Ali
5/10
Smoke – filled with the carbon that is driving climate change – drifts across a field in Colombia.
Sandra Rondon
6/10
A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures.
Abrar Hossain
7/10
Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change.
“Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals,” says the photographer. “Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow.”
Rizwan Dharejo
8/10
A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India.
The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature.
Riddhima Singh Bhati
9/10
A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a “public health emergency”.
Leung Ka Wa
10/10
Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions.
Mahtuf Ikhsan
1/10
A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica
Kira Morris
2/10
Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050.
Probal Rashid
3/10
Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent.
Tom Schifanella
4/10
Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others.
Hira Ali
5/10
Smoke – filled with the carbon that is driving climate change – drifts across a field in Colombia.
Sandra Rondon
6/10
A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures.
Abrar Hossain
7/10
Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change.
“Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals,” says the photographer. “Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow.”
Rizwan Dharejo
8/10
A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India.
The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature.
Riddhima Singh Bhati
9/10
A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a “public health emergency”.
Leung Ka Wa
10/10
Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions.
Mahtuf Ikhsan
It is claimed the firm suspected fossil fuels might be involved in climate change in 1981, about seven years before the issue became headline news.
If Exxon’s public statements to investors about the company’s future contrasted with any private thoughts on the effect of global warming on its business, this could result in legal action.
The New York Attorney General, which is currently investigating such claims, discovered that Mr Tillerson used an email under the name Wayne Tracker to discuss climate change while working at Exxon between 2008 and 2015, although the reasons why he did so. A court has ordered Exxon to hand over the emails and other documents.
Comments
Please be respectful when making a comment and adhere to our Community Guidelines.
Community Guidelines
You can find our Community Guidelines in full here.