Top CEOs Are In a Last Ditch Bid to Persuade Trump to Stick with the Paris Climate Deal

fortune ^ | 5/31/2017 | kevin lui

[RummyChick]

Major U.S. corporations and leading business figures are raising an eleventh-hour appeal to President Donald Trump, urging him to not pull the country out of the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

Following Tesla (TSLA, -0.44%) CEO Elon Musk's suggestion that he would quit his positions on several White House advisory councils if Trump's decision is to exit the deal, as has been widely reported, other firms and business leaders have also come out in favor of the pact. Oil giants ExxonMobil (XOM, +0.30%) and ConocoPhillips (COP, +0.92%) were among companies that reiterated their support for the accord ahead of Trump's announcement, reports Bloomberg.

"Energy needs are a function of population and living standards," Exxon CEO Darren Woods said at the company's annual investor meeting in Dallas Wednesday, according to Bloomberg. Woods' position in favor of staying in the deal is the same as his predecessor, current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. "When it comes to policy, the goal should be to reduce emissions at the lowest cost to society," Woods said, adding that demand for oil will keep growing even with the climate deal in place. ConocoPhillips thinks that being part of the Paris Agreement allows the U.S. to continue having a role in shaping efforts to reduce carbon emissions. "It gives the U.S. the ability to participate in future climate discussions to safeguard its economic and environmental best interests," company spokesman Daren Beaudo told Bloomberg in an email.

[enumerated]

“That sounds counter-intuitive, doesn’t it?”

It seems counter-intuitive until you factor in the economies of scale enjoyed by the mega corporations for any cost, including regulatory compliance.

Regulatory compliance involves avoidance strategies (lobbying government for exceptions and waivers), reporting (doing studies, gathering statistics, completing mountains of paperwork, enduring inspections, testifying, etc.) and recapitalization (replacing machinery and technologies with complient technology). All of these activities are far cheaper as a percent of gross revenue for a huge corporation due to economies of scale.

The mega corporations are always eager for more regulation because it reinforces their monopoly against competition from smaller entities.

Incredibly, the same phenomenron causes mega corporations to lobby for higher taxes.

Weird but true.

[oldbrowser]

I understand that we need a seat at the table to try and protect our interests. Pollution is bad but it is just one of a number variables to be considered. We must make it understood that we will not become the subject of a global entity.

[oldbrowser]

It all depends on the fine print.

[Theophilus]

Exploiters all. They love barriers of entry and forced markets.

[lapsus calami]

 

 

It's been a day of ROTFLMAO for me - those same save-the-whales type libs have been blowing up social media about how many corporations are gonna suffer due to the pullout. The dissonance is deafening.