Trump’s Pick for Secretary of State Backs the Paris Climate Deal Trump Would Scrap

Heather Hurlburt was quoted in the Washington Post about Rex Tillerson's stance on the Paris climate deal:

“Pulling out of the climate deal will have significant implications for the willingness of other countries to work with the United States on other issues,” says Heather Hurlburt, a senior staff member at the New America Foundation who was a speechwriter at the State Department in the 1990s. “The secretary of state will be really well positioned to explain that to the president and the White House — if the president and the White House think that international cooperation on other issues is worth the effort.”

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Hurlburt points out that this embrace of the Paris climate deal suggests a recognition on the part of energy industry that long term predictability — in the form of a commitment to a low carbon future — is essential to long term success. Hundreds of U.S. companies have urged Trump to keep us in the Paris deal, arguing that building a low carbon economy is essential to long term prosperity. Such arguments might appeal to Trump — and, one hopes, can compete with the arguments he will hear from his administration’s climate change denialists.

“The Paris deal provides a predictable structure within which Exxon can do business,” Hurlburt says. “The thing the more rabid climate change deniers want will produce a less stable environment for industry — including the energy industry. The question is how long it will take for Trump to learn this.”