Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of General Electric, responded to President Trump’s reversal of clean fuel policies by staunchly defending emissions reduction and climate change.
In a March 29 blog post, Immelt detailed the rollback by the Trump administration and said the issue of climate change must be challenged through global cooperation, like the Paris Agreement of 2015. While the United States has not pulled out of that agreement, there is concern that Trump’s reversal of policies could make it difficult for the country to reach targets set by the pact.
Immelt emphasized that climate change is a real and very serious situation backed up by scientific facts. He also said he hoped the U.S. would offer constructive solutions in the years ahead.
Immelt has so far avoided any serious animosity with President Trump, who has been known to take companies to task on his Twitter account. After visiting the White House in late February, Immelt agreed with some of Trump’s policies regarding the tax code. He also spoke out in support of globalization despite numerous countries, including the U.S., taking a more nationalist approach.
While concluding his blog post, Immelt said each country would have to develop its own policy to deal with global political instability.