ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods has a message for President-elect Donald Trump: Do not pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord. Speaking to The New York Times from a United Nations climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, Woods said that “we need a global system for managing global emissions. Trump and his administrations have talked about coming back into government and bringing common sense back into government. I think he could take the same approach in this space.”
While Trump consistently denies basic facts of climate science, such as that humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions are primarily responsible for global heating, Woods argued that he should instead create incentives for fossil fuel companies to transition to clean energy while still earning large profits.
“The government role is extremely important and one that they haven’t been successfully fulfilling, quite frankly,” Woods said, arguing that his company must balance its environmental responsibilities with earning profits for their shareholders. Woods has previously denied fossil fuel companies are primarily responsible for climate change, despite the overwhelming scientific evidence saying otherwise. Investigative reporting has also documented the repeated attempts of ExxonMobil lobbyists to water down U.S. climate policy.
In contrast to Woods’ advice, Trump promises to significantly cut funding for environmental regulatory agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He has also pledged to fire thousands of civil servants unless they pledge to be loyal to him, as well as scrub references to climate change from government documents.
“As I stated before the election, a second Trump term, which includes implementation of Project 2025, is the end of climate action as we know it, this decade,” University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Dr. Michael E. Mann told Salon earlier this month. “And if Trump dismantles our democracy, as many fear will be the case, and the world’s greatest power, the U.S., becomes — in essence — a petrostate, it’s game over for climate action full stop for the foreseeable future, unless the rest of the world unites and takes bold action, including potentially the most punitive possible sanctions against the United States.”
