Bosses dump Trump over climate exit

Tesla’s Elon Musk and Disney’s boss have quit White House roles in protest at the US exit from the Paris accord.

Elon Musk listens to Donald Trump during a meeting with business leaders at the White House in January. Pic: AFP

US business leaders are protesting Donald Trump’s decision to exit the Paris climate deal, with Tesla’s Elon Musk and Disney’s chief quitting White House roles.

Mr Musk, the chief executive of electric-car maker Tesla and rocket company Space Exploration Technologies said he would step down from his roles working with White House advisory groups, shortly after the President announced the US would withdraw from the Paris climate accord.

“Climate change is real,” Mr Musk tweeted shortly after Mr Trump’s speech at the White House. “Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.”

Disney CEO Robert Iger later tweeted that as a “matter of principle” he would resign from the President’s business advisory council due to the President’s controversial decision.

As a matter of principle, I've resigned from the President's Council over the #ParisAgreement withdrawal.

— Robert Iger (@RobertIger) June 1, 2017

Among other big companies to express displeasure with Mr Trump’s move was Goldman Sachs, which has been a source of advisers to the President.

“Today’s decision is a setback for the environment and for the US’s leadership position in the world,” Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein said on Twitter.

Mr Musk and Mr Iger had both been criticised for taking roles with the White House.

Robert Iger

Uber Technologies chief executive Travis Kalanick stepped down from Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum in February after calls by users to delete the ride-hailing service’s app. The criticism was over the belief that he supported the Trump administration, and its order that aimed to ban citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the US because of terrorism concerns.

Mr Musk, who oversees businesses that operate in heavily regulated industries including clean energy, tried to perform a balancing act in public, arguing that engaging with the President on important issues could be more productive than attacking him. He surprised many followers by supporting Rex Tillerson, the former head of Exxon Mobil, to become secretary of state.

Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 1, 2017

Mr Musk is a close associate of Peter Thiel, the tech investor and entrepreneur who backed Mr Trump during the campaign and has helped advise the President. Mr Thiel and Mr Musk were both founders of payments company PayPal and Mr Thiel’s venture-capital firm Founders Fund backs SpaceX.

Mr Musk seemed to acknowledge on Twitter in January a realisation that some of his fans were unhappy with him, when one person on Twitter told him he was losing credibility. “Yeah, am hearing from a lot of people & it’s getting me down,” he tweeted. “I’m just trying to make a positive contribution & hope good comes of it.”

In February, he said he had raised climate issues at one council meeting and would stay on. “I believe this is doing good, so will remain on council & keep at it,” he tweeted. “Doing otherwise would be wrong.”

But the expected withdrawal from the Paris accord was too much for Mr Musk. The Paris accord by dozens of countries aims to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions as part of an effort to fight climate change. The US had pledged to cut emissions by 2025 between 26 per cent and 28 per cent from their 2005 levels. Each participating country determines its own targets.

Under Paris deal, China committed to produce as much clean electricity by 2030 as the US does from all sources today https://t.co/F8Ppr2o7Rl

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 1, 2017

Yesterday, Mr Musk, Apple CEO Tim Cook and other business leaders placed urgent phone calls to the White House in an effort to persuade the president to reconsider, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Mr Trump, who made pulling out of the accord a campaign promise, today called the climate deal “draconian” and said that he would begin negotiations to either re-enter the agreement or craft a new deal.

Dow Jones Newswires