An alliance of some of the world’s biggest companies and labor unions want the U.S. to stay in the Paris Agreement to deal with climate change.
Tech heavy-hitters such as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff are among 73 leaders who signed on to United For Paris. Without mentioning Trump by name, the leaders argued staying in the Paris Agreement will help the U.S. remain economically competitive.
“Staying in the Paris Agreement will strengthen our competitiveness in global markets, positioning the United States to lead the deployment of new technologies that support the transition, provide for our workers and communities, and create jobs and companies built to last,” according to the letter.
Last month, the Trump administration gave notice that it planned to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords over the next year. As part of the deal, close to 200 countries pledged to cut greenhouse emissions and help poorer countries deal with effects of climate change.
The letter is notable for the big names involved, but it also stands out because of the people who aren’t on the list. Absent are frequent Trump foe and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, among others.
Here’s the full text of the letter and the list of leaders that signed it:
December 2, 2019
Joint Labor Union and CEO Statement on the Paris Agreement
We the undersigned are a group of CEOs who employ more than 2 million people in the United States and union leaders who represent 12.5 million workers. Together, we know that driving progress on addressing climate change is what’s best for the economic health, jobs, and competitiveness of our companies and our country.
In 2017, many of us came together to rally behind the US’ participation in the Paris Agreement. We came together to say we are still in. Two years ago, the impacts of climbing global temperatures were clear. Today, with record temperatures across the country, fiercer hurricanes pummeling coasts, more destructive wildfires, droughts and flooding disrupting the economy, we have no time to waste.
Two years ago, we knew that supporting the Paris Agreement was what was needed to help keep companies competitive and thriving under the shifting expectations of Americans. We stand with the 77% of registered American voters and over 4,000 American states, cities and businesses supporting the Paris Agreement.
Today, we stand by our conviction that a commitment to the Paris Agreement requires a just transition of the workforce—one that respects labor rights and is achieved through dialogue with workers and their unions. Participation in the Paris Agreement enables us to plan for a just transition and create new decent, family-supporting jobs and economic opportunity.
Staying in the Paris Agreement will strengthen our competitiveness in global markets, positioning the United States to lead the deployment of new technologies that support the transition, provide for our workers and communities, and create jobs and companies built to last.
It also supports investment by setting clear goals which enable long-term planning. It encourages innovation to achieve emissions reductions at low cost.
There has been progress, but not enough. This moment calls for greater, more accelerated action than we’ve seen. It calls for the strong policy framework the Paris Agreement provides, one that allows the US the freedom to choose our own path to emissions reductions.
The promise of the Paris Agreement is one of a just and prosperous world. We urge the United States to join us in staying in.
Sincerely,Stuart Appelbaum, Executive Council & Chair of International Committee, AFL-CIO
The AFL-CIO is the US national union federation that represents more than 12.5 million working people in the United States in affiliated unions from the following sectors:
Energy
Transport
Communications
Retail
Construction
Manufacturing
Education
Health
Services
Government employees
Michel Aballea, Chief Executive Officer, Decathlon and Michel d’Humières, Chief Executive Officer, Decathlon USA
Jean-Paul Agon, Chairman and CEO, L’Oréal
Andrew Anagnost, President and Chief Executive Officer, Autodesk
Douglas M. Baker Jr., Chairman and CEO, Ecolab Inc.
Ajay Banga, President and CEO, Mastercard
Keith Barr, CEO, InterContinental Hotels Group®
Oliver Bäte, Chairman of the Board of Management (CEO), Allianz SE
Marc Benioff, Founder, Chairman and Co-CEO, Salesforce
Chip Bergh, President and Chief Executive Officer, Levi Strauss & Co.
Aneel Bhusri, CEO, Workday, Inc.
Marco Bizzarri, President and CEO, Gucci
Alessandro Bogliolo, CEO, Tiffany & Co.
Sir Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin Group
Jesper Brodin, CEO, Ingka (incl. IKEA Retail US)
Mike Cannon-Brookes, and Scott Farquhar, Co-Founders and Co-CEOs, Atlassian
Greg Case, Chief Executive Officer, Aon plc
Mr N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons
Manny Chirico, Chairman & CEO, PVH Corp.
Tim Cook, CEO, Apple
Michael L. Corbat, CEO, Citigroup Inc.
Lloyd H. Dean and Kevin E. Lofton, Chief Executive Officers, CommonSpirit Health
Marc Doyle, CEO, Dupont
Ferruccio Ferragamo, Executive Chairman, Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A.
Robert Fisher, Chairman and Interim CEO, Gap Inc.
Jim Fitterling, Chief Executive Officer, Dow, Inc
Mario Greco, Group Chief Executive Officer, Zurich Insurance Group
Mauricio Gutierrez, President and Chief Executive Officer, NRG Energy
Ralph Hamers, CEO & Chairman, ING Group
Arianna Huffington, Founder and CEO, Thrive Global
Robert A. Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company
Ralph Izzo, Chairman, President and CEO, Public Service Enterprise Group
William D. Johnson, CEO and President, PG&E Corporation; Director, Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Alan Jope, CEO, Unilever
James K. Kamsickas, CEO & President, Dana Incorporated
Patricia K. Poppe, President & Chief Executive Officer, CMS Energy
Isabelle Kocher, CEO, ENGIE
Ramon Laguarta, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo
Michael W. Lamach, Chairman and CEO, Trane-Thermo King-Ingersoll Rand
Enrique Lores, CEO, HP Inc.
Patrice Louvet, President & CEO, Ralph Lauren Corp.
David W. MacLennan, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Cargill
Rose Marcario, Chief Executive Officer & President, Patagonia
Roberto Marques, Executive Chairman, Natura &Co
Mari McClure, Incoming CEO, Green Mountain Power Corporation and Mary Powell, CEO, Green Mountain Power Corporation
Brian Moynihan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America
Elon Musk, Co-founder and CEO, Tesla, Inc.
Satya Nadella, Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft Corporation
Shantanu Narayen, Chairman and CEO, Adobe
Christopher J. Nassetta, President & CEO, Hilton
José Neves, Founder, Co-Chairman and CEO, Farfetch
John Pettigrew, CEO, National Grid plc
Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google
François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO, Kering
Pedro J. Pizarro, President and CEO, Edison International
Patrick Pouyanne, Chairman & CEO, Total
James Quincey, Chairman and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company
Thomas Rabe, Chairman and CEO, Bertelsmann
Grant F. Reid, CEO and President, Mars Incorporated
Pier Pablo Righi, Chief Executive Officer, Karl Lagerfeld
Ginni Rometty, CEO, IBM
Kasper Rørsted, Chief Executive Officer, Adidas
Mark Schneider, Chief Executive Officer, Nestlé
Feike Sijbesma, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Managing Board, Royal DSM
David Solomon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Goldman Sachs
Esteve Torrens, CEO, Stonyfield Farm, Inc.
Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Chairman & CEO, Schneider Electric
Hamdi Ulukaya, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Chobani
Ben van Beurden, Chief Executive Officer, Royal Dutch Shell PLC
Hans Van Bylen, Chief Executive Officer, Henkel
Dirk Van de Put, Chairman and CEO, Mondelez International
Hans Vestberg, Chairman and CEO, Verizon
Peter Voser, Chairman and CEO, ABB LTD
Wendell Weeks, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Corning Incorporated
Lawson Whiting, Chief Executive Officer, Brown-Forman Corporation
