US businesses hold steady on support for Paris Agreement even after cozying up to Trump

When President Donald Trump first withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement in 2017, big businesses came together in protest. Almost 2,000 companies pledged support for the agreement by signing a statement titled “We Are Still In.”

Big tech was particularly vocal. “Am departing presidential councils,” Elon Musk wrote on Twitter soon after Trump announced his plans, referring to two business councils he was a member of. “Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.”

As Trump signed an order shortly after his inauguration to start the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement for a second time after the Biden administration rejoined, private sector support for the agreement and climate policies remains strong, said the non-profits behind “We Are Still In” — even if some businesses are expressing it more cautiously this time.

The campaign, since renamed “America Is All In,” is backed by close to 3,000 businesses. Those businesses, said the non-profits, remain committed to climate action because, unlike in 2017, it is embedded in their business plans and the broader economy.

Musk’s Tesla signed We Are Still In back in 2017, as did Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple and Uber. And on Jan. 20 of this year, leaders of all those firms traveled to Washington to attend and schmooze at Trump’s inauguration, knowing that the president planned to withdraw the U.S. from Paris for a second time. All of those companies still back the America Is All In campaign.

2025’s changed landscape

When comparing America’s two exits from Paris, it’s important to remember that the first one took place less than two years after the agreement was adopted, said Ryan Finnegan, deputy program director of America Is All In and a program manager at the WWF, one of the organizations behind the campaign. At the time, the legislation needed to align the U.S. with the Paris goals had not been written. Now at least some of that legislation exists — principally the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) — and the focus is on ensuring it gets implemented. “We’re encouraging folks to make their commitment to the IRA’s climate and clean energy provisions known to key influencers and policymakers,” said Finnegan. 

Some businesses are doing so. When Ceres, another organization behind America Is All In, organized meetings with Republican members of Congress in December, Samsung, Ikea and several other large companies attended to make the case for protecting the IRA. It’s a message that many in the GOP are open to, said Anne Kelly, vice president for government relations at Ceres, because much of the investment created by the act has gone to Republican-held states and districts.

The 2025 landscape is different in other ways. Corporate emission commitments, for example, were rarer in 2017 and only just beginning to be rigorously thought through. The Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) was founded the same year that the Paris Agreement was adopted. Now more than 10,000 businesses have made a commitment or had it validated by the SBTi.

Not changing for ‘one particular president’

“I mean, of course we’re still in,” said Ceres’ Kelly. “Of course we’re not going to change our climate transition plans because of one particular president. Companies like certainty, companies do long-term planning. You’re not going to suddenly see people dropping their science-based targets or dropping their renewable energy purchases.”

Some are making that clear publicly. “We’re dedicated to our goals,” Kara Hurst, Amazon’s chief sustainability officer, told the New York Times the day after Trump’s executive order on Paris. “We’re staying the course. We’re not veering from that. I think most of the corporates have long-term goals that they’ll keep.”

Those that have not been so vocal may be waiting for a more opportune moment, added Finnegan. Trump’s flurry of executive orders, together with the legal responses they have generated, have left little room for discussion of climate. There will be moments later in the year, noted Finnegan, when statements by business leaders stand a better chance of making an impact. “This year, COP30 is the pinnacle of the climate calendar,” he said. “There will be opportunities for U.S. actors to say ‘hey, we’re still in, still working toward these commitments, continuing this work.’ COP30 will be a leadership moment for public and private sectors.”

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