Analysts: Leaving climate deal likely wouldn’t add jobs

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump has declared that abandoning the Paris climate agreement would be a victory for the American economy.

Many economists have big doubts.

They say the agreement would likely help create about as many jobs in renewable energy as it might cost in polluting industries. Should the United States pull out of the pact and seek to protect old-school jobs in coal and oil, it would risk losing the chance to lead the world in developing environmentally friendly technology – and generate the jobs that come with it. What’s more, over the haul, climate change itself threatens to impose huge costs on the economy.

“Withdrawing from the Paris agreement is hardly going to create jobs in the U.S.,” says Cary Coglianese, professor at the University of Pennsylvania and editor of the book “Does Regulation Kill Jobs?” “While specific environmental regulations can sometimes lead to job losses, they also can and do lead to job gains – with the result being roughly a wash.”

The Paris agreement has drawn surprising support from major companies, from oil giants such as Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell to other corporate giants such as Walmart and Apple.

“We need a framework like that to address the challenge of climate change, the risk of climate change,” Darren Woods, CEO of Exxon Mobil, said Wednesday.

Likewise, Shell CEO Ben van Beurden told NPR earlier this month that talk of leaving the Paris accord risked creating the “unpredictability” that makes business decisions harder.

Elon Musk, CEO of electric carmaker Tesla and aerospace company SpaceX, tweeted that he would leave two White House advisory councils if Trump went ahead with this threat to leave the Paris accord.

Under the Paris accord, nearly 200 nations agreed in 2015 to voluntarily cut greenhouse gas emissions in a landmark agreement to fight climate change.

The pact became one of President Barack Obama’s signature achievements. But Trump campaigned on a promise to nix the deal, saying it would mean stricter environmental policies that would hobble the economy and cost jobs.