Politicians, environmentalists and business leaders the world over have condemned President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement on tackling climate change.

Protecting the American economy

Mr Trump announced late on Thursday that, to protect the American economy, he was triggering the process of withdrawing the US from the agreement – the world's first comprehensive deal to tackle climate change.In advance of Mr Trump's statement, China declared its intention of advancing its programme to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while, after it, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Emmanuel Macron of France and Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni of Italy issued a statement saying they remained committed to the "irreversible" agreement, describing it as "a cornerstone in the co-operation between our countries, for effectively and timely tackling climate change".

"Disappointment"

UK Prime Minister Theresa May expressed her "disappointment" over Mr Trump's decision in a phone call to the president but faced criticism from political opponents in Britain for not joining other European leaders in their condemnation of the move.Meanwhile, several Democratic-controlled US states, including New York and California, declared their intention to press ahead with strategies to combat climate change despite the president's announcement of withdrawal from the 195-nation accord.Barack Obama, who signed the agreement when president, said in a statement, "Even in the absence of American leadership; even as this administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future; I'm confident that our states, cities and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way, and help protect for future generations the one planet we've got."

"America first" agenda

Mr Trump, however, painted the decision as part of his "America first" agenda, saying he was elected to represent "Pittsburgh, not Paris". This produced an immediate response from Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto who rebuffed the comment and pointed out that 80 per cent of the city had voted for Hillary Clinton.Business leaders also rounded on Mr Trump. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the decision was "bad for the environment, bad for the economy, and it puts our children's future at risk". He added, "Stopping climate change is something we can only do as a global community, and we have to act together before it's too late."Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, said, "This is an incredibly short-sighted move backwards by the federal government. We're all on this planet together and we need to work together."

A setback for the environment

Others railing against the decision were Tesla founder Elon Musk, Disney CEO Robert Iger and Google head Sundar Pichai. Both Mr Musk and Mr Iger announced they were quitting presidential advisory councils in protest.And Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein took to Twitter for the first time ever to describe Mr Trump's decision as “a setback for the environment and for the US’s leadership position in the world”.Nick Molho, executive director of the Aldersgate Group, an alliance of business, politics and civil society leaders campaigning for a sustainable global economy, said Mr Trump's move would not result in a U-turn on climate action, either in the US or across the world."Several US States have made clear commitments to continue investing in low carbon technologies and major US businesses such as Walmart have set ambitious targets to cut carbon emissions and increase the use of renewable energy," he said, pointing out that the move to low carbon economies was gathering pace with coal use in China and India slowing faster than expected and record levels of investment in renewables.

Need to move away from dependence on fossil fuels

Stephanie Pfeifer, chief executive of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, said the US administration was "failing to recognise what is already an inevitable and irreversible direction of travel away from dependence on fossil fuels and towards a low carbon future – with all the jobs, growth and innovation that this entails".And Rahul Ghosh, vice president and senior credit officer at Moody's Investors Service, said, "The withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement will not stall global efforts to reduce carbon emissions given that robust institutional and private sector momentum, including technological advancements, will continue to drive sustainable and climate agendas forward."For related news and features, visit our Enterprise section.Access hundreds of global services and suppliers in our Online Directory  Get access to our free Global Mobility Toolkit

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