From Macron to Musk: World rallies behind #ParisAgreement following Trump's withdrawal

President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement on climate change has drawn swift backlash from politicians, business leaders, celebrities and green groups across the world in a renewed effort to step up the fight against global warming.

In the 24-hours since Trump's controversial decision, the #ParisAgreement has been trending on Twitter, with a host of social media voicing their dissent - ranging from Trump's presidential predecessor Barack Obama through to Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Zuckerberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Notably, Tesla’s chief executive Elon Musk has announced that he will be leaving the US President's advisory council, stepping down as a technology industry advisor for the White House. Musk has been critical of politicians in the past, accusing them of taking the “easy path” to subsidise fossil fuels.

Musk took to Twitter to announce that he was “departing presidential councils”, noting that “climate change is real” and that “leaving Paris is not good for America or the world". Walt Disney’s chairman Robert Iger has also resigned from the President’s Council over Trump's Paris Agreement decision.

Business leaders have long sought to appeal to Trump’s businessman persona to persuade the President to remain in the Paris Agreement. Musk signed a joint-letter alongside the chief executives of Unilever, Virgin, Coca-Cola, Walt Disney and others to highlight the economic benefits of remaining in the accord.

But in this instance, Trump’s “art of the deal” is to ignore what all others are pursuing. Overnight, Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook, Google’s chief executive Sundar Pichai and Facebook’s Zuckerberg all used social media to note their disappoint over the decision.

“Withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement is bad for the environment, bad for the economy, and puts our children at risk,” Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. “Stopping climate change is something we can only do as a global community, and we have to act together before it’s too late.”

Even the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein - who hasn’t tweet since he joined the platform in 2011 - posted a message deriding Trump's decision.

While businesses stand defiant against the decision, cities and states are seemingly scaling up climate ambitions. An open letter from 82 mayors representing 39 million Americans has promised to “adopt, honour, and uphold the commitments to the goals enshrined in the Paris Agreement”. Mayors from the likes of New York City, Washington and San Francisco had called on Trump to expand renewable energy sources and green infrastructure to achieve US energy security and create a manufacturing, energy and construction boom in America.

The push from cities has been spearheaded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Since Trump’s announcement, Bloomberg has so far gathered 30 mayors, three governors, more than 80 university presidents and more than 100 businesses to attempt to get a group submission accepted by the United Nations. If successful, the submission would place the group’s climate actions alongside the national contributions agreed under the Paris Agreement by other nations.

French President Emmanuel Macron has led the responses from other nations. Using the slogan “Make Our Planet Great Again”, Macron reiterated his commitment to finding new ways to limit the impacts of global warming in line with the accord, in a message posted on YouTube.

Here in the UK, a range of ministers including Amber Rudd, Nick Clegg and Greg Clark have reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to the Paris Agreement, while Labour's Jeremy Corbyn and the Green Party's Caroline Lucas have outright criticised Trump over his decision.

Prime Minister Theresa May has also reportedly told Trump of her “disappointment” over the decision, according to a Downing Street statement. However, May has not signed a joint condemnation from France, Germany, and Italy.

For Trump's decision to come into effect, the US will have to undergo a complex legal process to officially withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Parties can only pull out three years after the Agreement officially entered force, meaning the earliest withdrawal via this route would be November 2019. However, withdrawing from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) would trigger a departure from the accord, and this would only require one years’ notice. </s> SAN FRANCISCO — Elon Musk said he was resigning from two White House advisory councils after President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he is withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate accord. Other pillars of corporate America — including Google’s chief executive and Amazon — also joined a growing chorus of disapproval over Trump’s decision.… </s> Billionaire innovator Elon Musk threatened to withdraw from President Trump's Business Advisory Council if the White House withdraws from an international agreement aimed at curbing climate change.

The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX had previously defended his decision to remain on the panel of advisers, arguing that it's better to have a seat at the table than to withdraw altogether and lack a voice on key issues.

But he drew the line at the possibility that Trump will abandon the Paris climate-change agreement, which President Obama's administration endorsed as a key step toward combating the global threat of rising temperatures.

"Will have no choice but to depart councils in that case," Musk tweeted Wednesday in response to a question from a follower.

In an earlier tweet, he said: "Don't know which way Paris will go, but I've done all I can to advise directly to POTUS, through others in WH & via councils, that we remain."

A Tesla spokesperson declined to comment further on Musk's tweet.

Though he opposed Trump's election, Musk faced scrutiny for sticking by the council after Trump took office. Embattled tech contemporary and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick withdrew after Trump's temporary travel ban on people from certain countries in the Middle East stirred controversy. Musk said at the time that he would seek a consensus of fellow council members on recommendations for changes that could be suggested to Trump.

But Musk has long held climate change as a personal passion topic, even positioning Tesla as a beacon of hope because its electric vehicles do not generate carbon emissions that cause global warming.

He said in February in connection with a trip to the White House that he wanted "to provide feedback on issues that I think are important for our country and the world." </s> IBM CEO Ginni Rometty will remain on President Donald Trump’s business advisory council despite disagreeing with the administration’s stance on the environment.

Her decision is in contrast to several other of the group's members who stepped down in protest on Thursday immediately after President Trump decided to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement . Those executives were Elon Musk, CEO of electric-car maker Tesla ( tsla ) , who said that “Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world;” and Disney CEO Robert Iger, who said he would resign as “a matter of principle.”

Trump created the group, called the President's Strategic and Policy Forum, shortly after being elected so he could get advice from the business world about creating jobs and lifting the economy. The group has since met in February and April .

IBM ( ibm ) was also dismayed with Trump’s decision, saying that it supports “U.S. participation in the Paris Agreement,” and that it plans to “continue its decades-long work to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions and will continue to help our clients do so as well.” But the difference of opinions with the White House were not enough for Rometty to pull out.

The business technology giant told various media outlets this week that it believes “there is value” in engaging with the White House.

"We believe we can make a constructive contribution by having a direct dialogue with the Administration — as we do with governments around the world," IBM said in a statement .

Some of the organizations that are also staying on board Trump’s business council include General Motors ( gm ) , the Cleveland Clinic, Wal-Mart Stores ( wmt ) , and investment firm Blackrock.

Fortune contacted IBM to elaborate on the company’s position and will update this story if it responds.

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In February, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick resigned from the president's business council after receiving intense criticism for his participation in light of Trump's restrictive immigration policies.

Separately, several high-profile tech companies like Apple , Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Salesforce , Google , and Facebook that are not member of the business council wrote a public letter to the White House calling on administration support the Paris agreement. The firms, which did not include IBM, bought full-page ads in The New York Times , The New York Post , and The Wall Street Journal in the days before Trump announced his decision. </s> With a string of executives leaving his manufacturing council in the wake of President Trump's controversial remarks about white supremacists, the president is disbanding the group he created in January. Trump said he's also ending his Strategic and Policy Forum, which he formed in December.

"Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council & Strategy & Policy Forum, I am ending both. Thank you all!" President Trump said in a tweet.

The move came shortly after two executives — 3M's Inge Thulin and Campbell Soup's Denise Morrison — said on Wednesday that they would be leaving the manufacturing council established by Trump, who has long touted the need to support American manufacturing jobs.

"Racism and murder are unequivocally reprehensible and are not morally equivalent to anything else that happened in Charlottesville", Campbell Soup CEO Denise Morrison stated, referring to Trump's much-criticized response to the white supremacist rally that resulted in the death of a counter-protester over the weekend.

3M President and CEO Inge Thulin said his decision to leave the group followed reflection on the values of "sustainability, diversity and inclusion."

The moves came one day after the resignations of Scott Paul, the president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing; Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO; and Thea Lee, the AFL-CIO's deputy chief of staff.

"I'm resigning from the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative because it's the right thing for me to do," Paul wrote in a tweet Tuesday morning.

Earlier this week, Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, Under Armour's Kevin Plank and Intel's Brian Krzanich left the council that was set up by the president's Manufacturing Jobs Initiative.

Over the summer, Tesla founder Elon Musk left both the manufacturing council and the presidential Strategic and Policy Forum, having announced in June that he disagreed with Trump's decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accord.

Like Musk, Disney CEO Bob Iger resigned from the president's Strategic and Policy Forum over Trump's climate policy. Others who left the group include former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who cited Trump's executive order on immigration.

Trump's decision to wind down the two groups comes after he struck a defiant tone about the resignations earlier this week, as criticism swirled around his comments that "both sides" were at fault in Charlottesville.

On Monday, Trump said, "Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President's Manufacturing Council,he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!"

On Tuesday, Trump stated, "For every CEO that drops out of the Manufacturing Council, I have many to take their place. Grandstanders should not have gone on. JOBS!"

When the council was formed back in January, the White House said the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative would allow the president to meet with "some of the world's most successful and creative business leaders to share their experiences and gain their insights." </s> When President Donald Trump announced the creation of the American Manufacturing Council in January, the White House heralded it as a gathering of “the world’s most successful and creative business leaders” from whom the president would seek guidance on “how best to promote job growth and get Americans back to work again.”

Among the many high-profile industry titans on the council in January were Denise Morrison of Campbell Soup Company, Jeff Immelt of General Electric and Elon Musk of Tesla.

By the middle of August, at least four of the CEOs on Trump’s American Manufacturing Council would announce their decision to resign from the advisory board.

Musk, the first to resign, faced considerable backlash from Tesla customers for his decision to work in conjunction with the beleaguered president, citing what they saw as Trump’s objectionable nature, behavior, rhetoric and proposed policies along the campaign trail.

In June, citing Trump’s decision to withdraw from a global initiative to lower carbon emissions in an effort to stave off the effects of climate change, Musk announced he would no longer be working with the president.

Following a weekend of racially charged violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that left one dead and dozens injured, Trump saw a spate of resignations from his advisory board.

That flurry of resignations likely prompted Trump to take to Twitter on Tuesday and lambast the CEOs who have resigned so far as “grandstanders.”

Though the president maintained that he had many other business leaders waiting in the wings to replace those who have resigned so far, no replacement appointments have been named.

Here’s a running list of all the titans of industry withdrawing from Trump’s American Manufacturing Council.

Musk resigned on June 1, citing disagreement with Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. Trump made no note of the departure.

On Monday, the pharmaceutical giant CEO issued a statement, saying he “[felt] a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism” and called on fellow CEOs to “honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy.”

Trump subsequently lambasted Frazier for his decision on Twitter.

Plank followed Frazier’s lead later that day, issuing a statement that said, “Under Armour engages in innovation and sports, not politics.”

“I ... will continue to focus my efforts on inspiring every person that they can do anything through the power of sport, which promotes unity, diversity and inclusion,” he concluded.

In a blog post published Monday night, Krzanich said he was resigning “to call attention to the serious harm our divided political climate is causing to critical issues.”

In a tweet, Paul announced on Tuesday his resignation from the American Manufacturing Council because it was “the right thing for [him] to do.

Aug. 15, 2017 12:14 p.m.: This story has been updated. </s> President Donald Trump came under pressure on Wednesday from corporate CEOs, US allies, Democrats and some fellow Republicans to keep the United States in a global pact to fight climate change, while a source close to the matter said Trump was preparing to pull out of the Paris accord.

A US withdrawal could deepen a rift with US allies. The United States would join Syria and Nicaragua as the world’s only non-participants in the landmark 195-nation accord agreed upon in Paris in 2015.

Responding to shouted questions from reporters in the White House Oval Office, Trump declined to say whether he had made up his mind, saying, “You’ll find out very soon.”

“I’m hearing from a lot of people, both ways,” Trump said as he met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump blasted the accord, and called global warming a hoax aimed at weakening US industry.

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump was working out terms of the planned withdrawal with US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, an oil industry ally and climate change doubter.

The pact was the first legally binding global deal to fight climate change. Virtually every nation voluntarily committed to steps aimed at curbing global emissions of “greenhouse” gases. These include carbon dioxide generated from burning of fossil fuels that scientists blame for a warming planet, sea level rise, droughts and more frequent violent storms.

The United States committed to reduce its emissions by 26 to 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025.

Advocates of the climate deal pressured Trump, who has changed his mind on large decisions before even after signaling a move in the opposite direction.

The chief executives of dozens of companies have made last-minute appeals to Trump. The CEOs of ExxonMobil Corp , Apple Inc, Dow Chemical Co, Unilever NV and Tesla Inc were among those urging him to remain in the agreement. Tesla’s Elon Musk threatened to quit White House advisory councils if the president pulls out.

Musk said: “I’ve done all I can to advise directly” to Trump and through others in the White House.

Robert Murray, CEO of Murray Energy Corp, an Ohio-based coal company and major Trump campaign donor, urged Trump to withdraw from the deal. But on Wednesday, US coal company shares fell alongside renewable energy stocks following reports that Trump would pull out.

Pulling the United States from the accord could further alienate American allies in Europe already wary of Trump and call into question US leadership and trustworthiness on one of the world’s leading issues. It also would be one more step by the Republican president to erase the legacy of his predecessor, Democrat Barack Obama, who helped broker the accord and praised it during a trip to Europe this month.

A US pullout could have sweeping implications. The deal relies heavily on reductions in emissions by big polluter nations, and the United States is the world’s second-biggest carbon dioxide emitter behind China.

At a conference near Los Angeles, Democrat Hillary Clinton, who Trump defeated in the 2016 presidential election, said withdrawing would be a mistake. “Part of what keeps us going is that America’s word is good, and that you stand with your prior administration whether it was of your party or not,” she said.

Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee who Trump considered for secretary of state, said on Twitter that affirmation of the Paris agreement “is not only about the climate: It is also about America remaining the global leader.”

Democratic US Senators Bob Menendez and Jack Reed wrote a letter urging Trump not to withdraw. They said withdrawal would undermine US credibility and its position as a global leader, empowering nations like China to drive the climate agenda and set international standards while also reaping economic benefits from a growing clean energy sector.

US allies rallied behind the Paris accord on Wednesday.

In Berlin, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker stressed withdrawal would take years, saying, “The Americans can’t just leave the climate protection agreement. Mr. Trump believes that because he doesn’t know the details.”

China and the European Union will seek on Friday to buttress the agreement. In a statement backed by all 28 EU states, the European Union and China will commit to full implementation of the accord, EU and Chinese officials said.

Trump has said the accord would cost the US economy trillions of dollars without tangible benefit. For the Republican president, a withdrawal would reflect his “America First” approach to policy, unencumbered by international obligations.

Trump refused to endorse the accord at a summit of the G7 group of wealthy nations on Saturday in Italy, saying he needed more time to decide.

The Sierra Club said a US withdrawal from the Paris deal would be a “historic mistake.” Friends of the Earth said the action would “sacrifice our planet to the fossil fuel industry” and make America the world’s “foremost climate villain.”

Trump vowed during his 2016 presidential campaign to “cancel” the Paris deal within 100 days of becoming president on Jan. 20, part of an effort to bolster US oil and coal industries.

Trump’s advisers have been split about the Paris accord. Senior adviser Steve Bannon, who wants Trump to focus on actions that will rev up his conservative political base, has long opposed it. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser, has come to the view that the standards set out in the agreement did not work for the US economy and the question was whether to try to change those standards within the agreement or pull out, another senior administration official said.

Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, favors staying in, the official said, and she has sought to ensure her father heard all sides in the debate.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App </s> As Donald Trump nears a final decision on the Paris climate agreement, top corporate executives are mounting a last-minute push aimed at persuading the president that the U.S. has more to lose from abandoning the accord.

The appeals from chief executives such as Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk, Tim Cook of Apple Inc. and Dow Chemical Co.’s Andrew Liveris come as Trump’s advisers also present him with closing arguments on the potential risks and rewards of remaining a party to the global pact. Trump also got an earful from foreign leaders and Pope Francis urging him to stay in the agreement during his first international trip as president.

Cook placed a call to the White House on Tuesday to urge the president to keep the U.S. in the agreement, according to a person familiar with the move. Liveris was the driving force behind a letter from 30 major company executives backing the deal. And Musk tweeted Wednesday that he has “done all I can to advise directly to" Trump. If the U.S. leaves Paris, Musk said he would drop participation in White House advisory councils.

Corporate leaders "are continuing to try to get through to the White House in any and every way they can," said Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres, the non-profit sustainability advocacy that works with investors. They "are particularly important stakeholders for this president," she said.

The executives are trying to capitalize on Trump’s "America first" ideology by warning that a withdrawal would put the U.S. at a disadvantage in a global race to develop and deploy clean-energy technology, potentially ceding that market opportunity to China, the world’s top emitter of greenhouse gas emissions.

A television advertisement that began running Wednesday cites 10 of "America’s biggest CEOs," including JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Jamie Dimon and General Electric Co.’s Jeffrey Immelt, as backing the climate pact "because it will benefit American manufacturing and generate jobs."

Trump tweeted Wednesday that he would announce his decision on the Paris accord "over the next few days." He later told reporters he was hearing from many people on both sides of the issue.

While Trump is leaning toward exiting the pact, according to people familiar with the White House deliberations, the situation remained fluid amid intense last-minute lobbying. The people requested anonymity because Trump’s decision has not yet been officially announced.

It was unclear Wednesday whether the corporate appeals would have much influence. Asked about Musk’s threat to forfeit his role on several of Trump’s advisory councils, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer noted "the president has a lot of people who he gets a lot of input from."

"Let’s wait and see what the president’s decision is," Spicer said.

Twenty-five companies, including Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp. and PG&E Corp., have signed on to a letter set to run as a full-page advertisement in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal on Thursday arguing in favor of the climate pact, and warning of potential “retaliatory measures” by other nations.

"By expanding markets for innovative clean technologies, the agreement generates jobs and economic growth," the open letter says. "U.S. companies are well positioned to lead in these markets. Withdrawing from the agreement will limit our access to them and could expose us to retaliatory measures."

Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com Inc., tweeted the letter, which was also signed by Apple, Google and Facebook Inc. “Dear President Trump, as some of the largest companies in the US, we strongly urge you to keep the US in the Paris Agreement,” he wrote.

Some companies that favor continued U.S. involvement in the deal stand to benefit directly from greater worldwide demand for lower-emitting energy sources, such as natural gas and renewable power. For instance, natural gas producers Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc have endorsed the pact, as has Cheniere Energy Inc., which exports liquefied natural gas.

Not all corporations are in line on the Paris agreement. Some coal producers, including Murray Energy Corp., oppose the pact.

Robert E. Murray, the founder and chief executive officer of the mining company, told Bloomberg Television on Tuesday that Trump has a responsibility to fulfill his campaign pledges and jettison the agreement. The president should "listen to those who voted for him," Murray said.

Environmentalists are hoping the corporate advocacy will have more influence with the president, as they haven’t been able to get traction.

“It’s up to world leaders and responsible companies like Apple and Tesla to use whatever influence they have with Trump while they can," said Travis Nichols, a spokesman for Greenpeace USA. "Withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement would turn America from a global climate leader into a global climate deadbeat. These companies are on the right side of history." </s> Tesla CEO Elon Musk stirred up a bit of controversy a few months ago when he joined President Trump’s s economic and manufacturing advisory councils. While Musk’s participation predictably generated no shortage of criticism, Musk maintained that he would use the position for “doing good” on a range of issues.

As Musk explained via Twitter earlier this year: “Advisory councils simply provide advice and attending does not mean that I agree with actions by the Administration. My goals are to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy and to help make humanity a multi-planet civilization, a consequence of which will be the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs and a more inspiring future for all.”

All that said, Elon Musk earlier today took to Twitter again and relayed that he will leave the councils if President Trump opts to pull out from the Paris climate agreement.

While nothing is officially confirmed in either direction just yet, Axios earlier today reported that Trump has already decided to withdraw. As a quick refresher, the Paris Agreement — as it’s sometimes called — is an all-encompassing agreement designed to stem the rise of global temperatures, with the express goal of “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”

As for why Trump might be interested in pulling out of the agreement, CBS notes:

But pulling out of the agreement is popular with Mr. Trump’s political base, many of whom are skeptical of the science underlying climate change policy. Critics of the accord say the limits on emissions place an onerous and disproportionate burden on American businesses…

With Musk now on record stating that he will leave the aforementioned councils if the Trump rumors are true, it will be interesting to see how this all plays out over the next few days.
Disney CEO Bob Iger joins Elon Musk in resigning from President Trump's advisory councils in response to Trump's decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement.