Pittsburgh, not Paris

Plenty of ink has been spilled already on the implications of a US retreat from the commitments under the Paris Agreement, and politicians from both sides of the aisle have had plenty to say for and against the move. The best we can recommend is to read the agreement itself and draw your own conclusions about its viability and advisability.

In terms of leadership in the US, we are finding cooperation on the climate in some unexpected places, although with only limited real impact so far. You can find a list of strange bedfellows in the Climate Solutions Caucus, a bipartisan Congressional group that “…will serve as an organization to educate members on economically-viable options to reduce climate risk and protect our nation’s economy, security, infrastructure, agriculture, water supply and public safety”. If you are a constituent or a business leader, call your Congressperson and express your support for at the very minimum working from a common set of facts and understanding.

At his comments announcing the withdrawal yesterday, the President said “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris”. Climate change will not create uniform effects globally, but the residents and businesses of Pennsylvania should and do have the same overall climate concerns as the residents and businesses of France and more than 190 other countries. As concerning as the current US government’s position on the climate accord is, we believe the responsibility for and ability to ultimately affect the trajectory of climate change must be private, not public.

Government has proven itself neither consistent enough nor reliable enough to address multi-decadal systemic problems like climate change. Individuals, institutions and companies — the makers, the consumers, the investors of our economy and society — are more efficient in the short and the long term in addressing systems-level problems. The most we can look to government for is to maintain a free and fair marketplace where the participants can invest for individual and sometimes shared gain. If 45 is not going to support these climate initiatives, the Administration should at least get out of the way and let the market function. Consumers and ESG investors, acutely aware of the existential as well as investment risks and opportunities, are directing capital in unprecedented amounts toward more sustainable products, services and investments.