BSR Statement on U.S. Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement

By Aron Cramer, President and CEO, BSR and David Wei, Director, Climate, BSR

BSR regrets that the United States has announced its intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change. The Paris Agreement is supported by an unprecedented consensus of nations—only Syria and Nicaragua have not signed it. The overwhelming majority of businesses and investors believe that the Paris Agreement is essential to ensuring innovation, competitiveness, and job creation, in addition to the evident benefits with respect to combatting climate change. Furthermore, evidence suggests that a strong majority of the American public believes the same thing. 

In spite of counterproductive policies coming from the U.S. administration, we are confident that the business community will continue to lead on climate action. BSR will continue its work with businesses, nonprofit partners, and other stakeholders to accelerate the transition to the resilient low-carbon economy. We will work with companies to set and implement science-based emission reduction targets, to help remove emissions from their supply chains, to invest in a low-carbon future, and to become resilient to climate risks. We will maintain our sharing of best practices in climate leadership. Our BSR collaborative initiatives on climate change will continue to help companies collectively promote low-carbon shipping and trucking, renewable energy for data centers, climate resilience, and climate finance. Along with our partners in the We Mean Business coalition, we will keep uniting the business community in taking climate action.

The resilient, low-carbon economy that the Paris Agreement envisions offers the innovation, jobs, and security Americans need. We urge the United States to reconsider withdrawal from the agreement and from the policies which implement it.

“U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement is a major mistake that will serve as a setback for climate action, global cooperation, and business, which overwhelmingly supports Paris. This decision not only damages the global consensus on how to address climate change, but also the innovation, competitiveness, and job creation that can flow from the steps outlined in Paris. Despite this deeply regrettable decision, I am confident that business—very much including American companies—will remain resolute in showing how the transition to low-carbon prosperity can be achieved and can improve livelihoods. BSR will continue to work with businesses that understand this and that are leading the way to 21st-century business models.” —Aron Cramer, President and CEO, BSR

This statement originally appeared on BSR.