Elon Musk once stated that he would leave the White House council if Trump ever decided to pull the United States out from the Paris Accord. Now that Trump has finally made the decision to cancel the United States’ participation in the Paris Accord, Elon Musk is following through on his promise to leave Trump's board of advisory.
Last Wednesday Elon Musk, the current CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, said he will quit Trump's advisory councils if the U.S. pulls out from the landmark climate deal. On Thursday, Elon Musk reiterated his promise and made it clear he would follow through. This was after Trump announced that he is pulling the United States out of the Paris Accord.
Following Trump's announcement, Musk tweeted that he was departing from the presidential councils. He also added that climate change is a real thing, and that the United States leaving the Paris Accord is not good for the world and certainly not good for the country.
Musk belonged to two of Trump's councils, the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative, and the Economic Advisory Board.
Based on a report, Musk has been pushing for a form of "carbon tax." However, Musk's detractors are claiming that he’s just using his position to boost profits for his upcoming massive infrastructure project, specifically a tunnel that runs under the city of Los Angeles. Musk had already gone to the White House three times for meetings specifically related to infrastructure spending and U.S. manufacturing.
Despite Trump being under heavy fire for his executive order relating to immigration, Musk chose to stay on the president's councils. However, pulling out of the Paris Accord was the last straw.
The Paris Accord is a pact made between participating countries to adopt clean energy sources and phase out fossil fuel consumption. This is an attempt to prevent the planet from heating the full 2 degrees Celsius higher than when compared to pre-industrial levels. The Paris Accord is a climate legacy of Obama, which may be one of the reasons why Trump wants to annul the United States' participation.
Another reason why Trump chose to pull out from the Paris Accord is that he claims to believe that climate change is a hoax. He has tweeted in the past that it is “propaganda” pushed by China to put the United States at a direct disadvantage. According to Trump, the United States will be forced to invest trillions of dollars in expensive and clean energy infrastructure, while China will not have to do the same. In reality, China is one of the biggest players in the Paris Accord, and the country has already started to invest billions in clean energy infrastructure.
While Musk announced that he would be leaving the council, several executives are choosing to stay on Trump's advisory council despite Trump's announcement. For example Ginni Rometty, the current CEO of IBM, is choosing to stay on Trump's Business Advisory Council according to a report by Brian Fung of the Washington Post. Mary Barra, the current CEO of General Motors, is also staying on according to a report by David Shepardson of Reuters.
