OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo emphasized the difficulty of keeping global warming below international targets without U.S. cooperation.
“To achieve our common goal of 2 degrees Celsius or below without the U.S. to me looks very challenging, and almost a task that the world will have to revisit this agreement in subsequent COPs," he said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in Russia.
Melbourne-based BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, said the withdrawal plan “does not impact our long-held support for the agreement.” The company will “share market experience to support governments in delivering the changes in policy and regulation required to successfully address climate change,” it said Friday in an emailed statement.
What’s Next
If Trump quits the accord, Dudley said before the decision was announced, “we need to be really clear -- rather than just walking away from it -- what you put in place in the United States.”
Industrial concerns and Wall Street weren’t alone in condemning Trump’s decision. Microsoft President Brad Smith and blue-jeans manufacturer Levi Strauss & Co.’s Chip Bergh joined the chorus of displeased executives.
“We’re disappointed with the decision to exit the Paris Agreement. Microsoft remains committed to doing our part to achieve its goals,” Smith tweeted.
While Trump, in defense of his action, said leaving the accord would save money and jobs, Bergh and Salesforce.com Inc. CEO Marc Benioff foresee a different outcome.
“Leaving the Paris Climate Accord puts us -- and our U.S. peers -- at a huge disadvantage,” Bergh said in an emailed statement. Nonetheless, he added, “we will continue to pursue technologies that can reduce the apparel industry’s environmental impact.”
Benioff, meanwhile, pledged to double the company’s efforts to combat climate change, saying he was “deeply disappointed.”