Environment

People Are Boycotting These Companies Over the Paris Climate Agreement

June 2nd 2017

When the news first began to leak that President Trump intended to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord, Elon Musk—CEO of Tesla and SpaceX—pledged to end his tenure as an advisor on Trump's presidential councils, which included the Strategic and Policy Forum and the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative. And when Trump announced on Thursday that he was withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, Musk made good on his promise.

Shortly after Musk's announcment, Disney CEO Robert Iger announced that he was removing himself from the president's business advisory council for the same reason. 

However, a mass exodus of business leaders from these advisory councils did not follow. According to the New York Times, the other members serving on the presidential councils appear to be staying put for now. General Motors CEO Mary Barra stated on Thursday she had no intention of leaving and other members have been largely silent since Trump's declarationHere's a complete list of who remains on the presidential councils:

  • Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors
  • Alex Gorsky, CEO of Johnson & Johnson
  • Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart
  • Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsi
  • Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase
  • Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM
  • Andrew Liveris, CEO of The Dow Chemical Company
  • Denise Morrison, CEO of the Campbell Soup Company
  • Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel Corporation
  • Kevin Plank, CEO of Under Armour
  • Larry Fink, CEO of Black Rock
  • Mark Sutton, CEO of International Paper
  • Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Technologies
  • Rich Kyle, CEO of The Timken Company
  • Rich Lesser, CEO of The Boston Consulting Group
  • Thea Lee, Deputy Chief of Staff at the AFL-CIO
  • Scott Paul, President of Alliance for American Manufacturing 
  • Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO
  • Wendell Weeks, CEO of Corning

In the wake of Trump's announcement, which resulted in worldwide condemnation, critics have called upon the business leaders who remain on the councils to follow Musk and Iger's lead. 

And these calls for boycotts could likely extend internationally. And as Laurence Kotlikoff noted in Forbes, the fallout from Trump's decision could, "quickly lead to a worldwide boycott of Americans goods and services as well as travel to the U.S."

As we've previously reported, many world leaders have spoken out against Trump deciding to pull out of the Paris agreement. California Gov. Jerry Brown announced on Thursday that he has received a commitment from 170 governments on six continents to make efforts to fight climate change. In a statement released on Thursday, Brown invoked the importance of individual states working to override Trump's decision and declared, "Trump is AWOL but California is on the field, ready for battle.”

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