Trump, Sensing Deals, Softens on Scrapping Climate Accord

Donald Trump moved toward his presidential election shouting how he denied climate change and would rip the U.S. away from the Paris Agreement. But today, in a meeting with The New York Times editorial staff, he backtracked, “pledging to have an open mind about climate change.”

What caused the pirouette? Why, because he’s a business mogul, of course. He must be seeing some way where his corporate enterprises might make money off the international climate deal.

And why do we say this? Because Trump made it very clear he sees no conflict of interest in owning corporations and being president. As the Times reported this evening about the one-hour interview with Trump:

…Mr. Trump was fiercely unapologetic about repeatedly flouting the traditional ethical and political conventions that have long shaped the American presidency.

 He said he had no obligation to establish boundaries between his business empire and his White House, conceding that the Trump brand ‘is certainly a hotter brand than it was before.’

So the president-elect -- as we predicted in our column “Prepare to Fight Fascism:2017 and Beyond” for The Clyde Fitch Report – will continue his greedy what’s-in-it-for-me corporate attitude.

What probably helped encourage his swayback: Last week he received a joint letter from 365 companies and major investors stressing a “deep commitment to addressing climate change”. According to a Nov. 16 Times article:

‘Failure to build a low-carbon economy puts American prosperity at risk,’ the companies said in a joint letter announced on Wednesday in Marrakesh, Morocco, where global leaders are determining the next steps for the Paris deal. ‘But the right action now will create jobs and boost U.S. competitiveness.’

The companies also said that they would push ahead with their own targets to reduce their carbon footprints regardless of steps taken by Mr. Trump once he is in office.

Also, Trump saw on Friday that 48 nations at the Marrakesh meeting pledged to turn to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050. These are primarily countries “disproportionately affected by global warming such as Ethiopia and the Maldives,” according to the UK Independent newspaper.

Trump’s motivation throughout his career has been to “make a deal”. It’s hard to see him not sitting in private with these countries’ heads of state, finagling some way to make each side some bucks off their renewable energy efforts.

Too, Trump must be seeing what’s happening at home. He may have investments in the highly conflictive Dakota Access Pipeline, but he also knows that U.S. renewable energy is moving ahead despite his energy stance. As Bloomberg predicted tonight in its article “Economics Will Keep Wind and Solar Energy Thriving Under Trump”:

On the plains of West Texas, new wind farms can be built for just $22 a megawatt-hour. In the Arizona and Nevada deserts, solar projects are less than $40 a megawatt-hour. Compare those figures with the U.S. average lifetime cost of $52 for natural gas plants and about $65 for coal.

Environmental rules and government subsidies are no longer the key drivers for clean power. Economics are.

That’s why Donald Trump will have limited influence on the U.S. utility industry’s push toward renewable energy, according to executives and investors. Companies including NextEra Energy Inc., Duke Energy Corp. and others that invest billions in power plants are already moving forward with long-term plans to generate electricity with cleaner and more economic alternatives.

Time will tell if Trump has “limited influence” on the renewable-energy push. It will be intriguing to see -- with his sloughing of any interest conflicts between his corporate holdings and his presidency – if he secretly works out deals to benefit from the push. Or if he might just openly say his family is forming new firms to invest in renewables and “help grow the national and global economy”. 

Meanwhile, he has announced he wants to shake up the federal Environmental Protection Agency. As the Times reported:

The president-elect has heightened environmentalists’ fears that his administration will take on an anti-climate, anti-environment bent by appointing the climate contrarian Myron Ebell to lead the E.P.A. transition. Climate change activists have denounced Mr. Ebell, whose Competitive Enterprise Institute has received funding from oil and gas interest groups.

Trump has made clear he wants to make the presidency a new ball game, and craves to form the new rules along with it. With a Millionaire Congress whose members want to become billionaires, and a conservative Supreme Court which Trump desires to make more conservative with at least one new appointment, he might just pull it off.