Trump Says US Will Leave Paris Accord
Update at June 1, 8pm GMT, 4pm Washington: President Trump has announced that he will withdraw the US from the 2015 Paris climate change: "As of today, the United States will cease all implementation of the non-binding Paris accord and the draconian economic burdens it imposes on our country" adding: "We are getting out, but we will start to negotiate and we will see if we can make a deal that is fair [to the US]. If we can't, that's fine."
The following article was published at 3.45pm GMT, about talk of the likely announcement, but also a historic vote by ExxonMobil shareholders
A majority of ExxonMobil shareholders won a vote at its AGM in favour of greater climate change disclosure and reporting.
A resolution, filed by the Church Commissioners for England (CCfE) and New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, asked Exxon to report on how its business model will be affected by global efforts to limit the average rise in temperatures to below 2-degrees Celsius. It was opposed by the company, but 62.3% of shareholders voted in favour at Exxon’s AGM May 31.
Institutional investors co-filed the motion including AXA, BNP Paribas, Californian pension fund Calpers, its UK equivalent Hermes, HSBC, New York City Pension Funds and over 30 faith-based institutional investors, according to CCfE. A year ago 38% of shareholders voted for the same resolution.
Exxon's peers including BP, ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell and Total have endorsed 2-degree scenario analysis, as has the Financial Stability Board's Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, established by (Bank of England governor) Mark Carney as FSB Chair, said CCfE.
Exxon said that its chairman said during the meeting that the company will consider all feedback from shareholders, and that votes receiving a majority vote will be reconsidered by the board.
If the churches and funds have won a skirmish though, a battle may be lost later June 1.
Trump Decision
US President Donald Trump is widely expected to say this June 1 evening if he is pulling the United States out of the 2015 Paris climate change agreement, with ex ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as current US Secretary of State understood to have been urging him against such a move.
“Climate action is not just the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do,” said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on June 1, ahead of the anticipated announcement by Trump.
Mark Smedley