Donald Trump

Grannis: Trump’s Paris accord exit won’t stop business from embracing the green economy

Bruce MacQueen / Shutterstock

President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the landmark Paris climate agreement has been called “disgraceful,” “unconscionable and fatuous” and “a devastating failure of historic proportions.” 

But according to Pete Grannis, the former state Department of Environmental Conservation commissioner and longtime environmentalist who now serves as the state’s first deputy comptroller, the hysteria is misplaced. In a Q&A with City & State Editor-in-Chief Jon Lentz, Grannis argued that business incentives would still propel the world along a path toward lower greenhouse gases, even without the White House’s support.

RELATED: A new climate of fear

C&S: What’s your reaction to Trump’s decision to back out of the Paris climate agreement?

PG: This had to be expected because of the commitment that the president made during the campaign. This is what he was going to do. We obviously had been hopeful the the pope and the world leaders and the business community, which weighed very heavily with the administration urging the president not to withdraw, would have prevailed. I guess it was a disappointment that that wasn’t the outcome. Here we are joining Syria and Nicaragua as the three countries that haven’t signed onto the climate pledge.

C&S: What will the impact be?

PG: It’s an unfortunate decision by the president for a host of reasons. Clearly the rest of the world’s survival is front and center on all this, but on the positive side there are huge business opportunities associated with a changing economy because of the concerns that have come out of the Paris accord and these other concerns that have led up to the agreement. Other countries are going to take advantage of these, and we will be on the outside. Our companies are still moving ahead, because the president taking out of the accord does not stop this train that has been moving toward the green economy.

C&S: What business opportunities are you talking about?

PG: Clearly, meeting the challenges of trying to produce things more sustainably and with fewer greenhouse gas emissions associated with them and destructive elements on where the products come from that make some of these things that have been associated with climate change, I think the business community – even Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state and former head of Exxon, where we had a very big victory with a shareholder action, he urged the president, we have heard, not to withdraw from the Paris agreement. Because they want everybody to be on a playing field and looking at this the same way, and the Paris agreement obviously committed us moving forward to a path to reducing our overall greenhouse gas contributions on a very substantial scale, and that’s where obviously Tillerson saw this as something that would in the interest of his former company when he was still there, and now as secretary of state that would be in the interest of the American economy to stay and be a participant in the climate agreement negotiated in Paris.

RELATED: Cuomo needs New York to step up its solar act

C&S: Even with other countries and business executives reiterating their support for the pact, will Trump’s move harm the environment?

PG: The federal government’s efforts that were started under President Obama to limit our greenhouse gasses on a more global scale – the Clean Power Plan, the car emissions standards, things like that – clearly can have an impact. But again, the business community has seen the light in a very substantial way, in many different industries. … That’s what the public wants. They want cleaner cars, they want cars that go further on a gallon of gas, and preferably not on gas at all in the future. Wind turbines, solar panels, if we’re not going to be producing these things, or part of a global agreement to produce them or buy them, we’re going to lose out as China is poised to move into these areas in a big way – and I think will be followed by the European economies, and even India in the not too distant future is going to take a very much active role in meeting the world’s needs for these cleaner energy alternatives that we are not going to be at the forefront of producing.

C&S: You helped organize the first Earth Day in New York in 1970. What has been the trajectory of the environmental movement since then, and where does this latest development fit in that context?

PG: The trendline has been very strongly up since 1970. The waters are cleaner, the air is cleaner, there’s a much greater sensitivity to land use planning and dealing with issues of past environmental degradation of properties. On a whole host of areas, the trend has been solidly up. There have been little blips here and there: Republican presidents, Democratic administrations have been pretty much on board on improving car efficiencies, trying to reduce greenhouse gasses.

C&S: What has the state comptroller’s office been doing on this front?

PG: Our shareholder initiatives have been successful, with this big victory we had Wednesday with Exxon Mobil. We have got billions of dollars dedicated to investment in clean energy intiatives. Finding those is not so easy. There’s a lot of people, a lot of cash chasing these things from other pension funds and other economies. We have a low-carbon index that we’re very proud of, a $2 billion commitment that the comptroller announced in Paris, where we’ve taken stocks from our public equity portfolio whose products and business practices produce less greenhouse gasses. It’s a tailored index of a thousand companies … in which greenhouse gases are 70 percent below our normal benchmark.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.