Fossil Fuel Industry Steps in to Help Save Paris Climate Deal for All the Wrong Reasons

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In May of 2016, six months before the U.S. presidential election, then-candidate Donald Trump said that he would โ€œcancelโ€ the United Statesโ€™ involvement in the Paris climate accord. Immediately following his election, however, Trump appeared to back-track slightly, saying he had โ€œan open mindโ€ about the agreement. And just this week, his administration canceled a much-hyped meeting to discuss the dealโ€™s future in the U.S.

The back and forth from the administration likely stems from the fact that officials within it are split, with people like senior adviser Stephen Bannon and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt urging the president to withdraw from the deal, and people like Secretary of State Rex Tillerson saying that the U.S. should remain inย it.

Pressure to stay in the Paris agreement isnโ€™t just coming from members of the White House, either. Polls show that 71 percentย of the American public supports the deal, so pulling out would prove to be highly unpopular with American voters. But another faction is begging the president to keep the deal in place: American businesses and fossil fuelย companies.

In a seemingly out-of-character move, ExxonMobil, the company that Tillerson ran before accepting a position in the Trump administration, sent a letter to the White House in March urging the president to reconsider pulling the U.S. out of the deal. Other oil giants, including Chevron, BP, and Shell, have also expressed a desire for the U.S. to remain within the Parisย agreement.

Similarly, coal companies like Peabody Energy and Cloud Peak Energy have advised Trump that withdrawing from the climate deal could prove to be aย disaster.

Has the fossil fuel industry finally awoken to the reality of dangerous climate change? Are these companiesย abandoning previous science-denying ways and moving into theย future?

The answer, sadly, isย no.

The reason behind this sudden push to remain in an agreement that could negatively impact the fossil fuel industry has nothing to do with protecting the planet. Rather, it is all about protectingย profits.

As CNN noted, oil companies and coal companies are concerned about the fact that the Paris climate agreement seems to favor natural gas, becauseย it has a lower carbon footprint when used as a fuel (though this does not factorย in the methane emissions and pollution associated with natural gas extraction and transportation). And since many of these companies, like Exxon, are dabbling more and more inย the natural gas business, they want to make sure that they remain competitive in globalย markets.

Coal companies are also concerned about losingย standing with overseas buyers. The concern is that the companies’ย products will diminish in value or become otherwise undesirable if coming from a country that has not signed onto the Paris agreement (countries mayย be more prone to buy coal from a member country than a non-memberย country).

Additionally, both the coal and oil industries likely understand that their membersย could wield significant influence in global policy from inside the Paris agreement, which would be more difficultย if the United States withdraws. If that were to happen, the value ofย fossil fuels originating in the U.S.ย could drop evenย further.

While it may be nice to see these industries fighting for the U.S. to remain in the Paris climate agreement, it pays to remember whose interests the companies are really focused on: theirย own.

Main image: Moneyย Credit:ย Liz West,ย CC BYย 2.0

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Farron Cousins is the executive editor of The Trial Lawyer magazine, and his articles have appeared on The Huffington Post, Alternet, and The Progressive Magazine. He has worked for the Ring of Fire radio program with hosts Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Mike Papantonio, and Sam Seder since August 2004, and is currently the co-host and producer of the program. He also currently serves as the co-host of Ring of Fire on Free Speech TV, a daily program airing nightly at 8:30pm eastern. Farron received his bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of West Florida in 2005 and became a member of American MENSA in 2009.ย  Follow him on Twitterย @farronbalanced.

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