Big Oil breaks with Trump on potential second withdrawal from Paris climate agreement

Big Oil is calling on President-elect Donald Trump to keep the U.S. in the Paris climate agreement after withdrawing from the treaty during his first term.

The Paris Agreement, established at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in 2015, is a legally binding treaty between nearly 195 parties who are committed to international cooperation on climate change.

Trump officially withdrew from the treaty in 2020, but the U.S. was reinstated to the climate agreement in 2021 after President Biden took office.

After winning a second term in the 2024 election, Trump is expected to consider a second withdrawal from the agreement. However, some oil companies have expressed opposition to the idea.

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Small gift-size Eiffel Towers are seen in front of the Eiffel Tower illuminated in green with the words "Paris Agreement is Done" on Nov. 4, 2016, in Paris. Several Parisian monuments were illuminated in green to celebrate the first day of the application of the Paris COP21 climate accord. (Chesnot)

When Trump first announced plans to withdraw from the climate agreement in 2017, then-CEO of Shell, Ben van Beurden, was opposed to the idea.

"We believe climate change is real," van Beurden told NPR. "We believe that the world needs to go through an energy transition to prevent a very significant rise in global temperatures. And we need to be part of that solution in making it happen."

Ahead of his upcoming second term, Trump is facing renewed calls to consider remaining in the international climate agreement.

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"I don’t think the stops and starts are the right thing for businesses," Darren Woods, CEO of oil giant ExxonMobil, recently told the Wall Street Journal. "It is extremely inefficient. It creates a lot of uncertainty."

Donald Trump (Alex Brandon)

Woods also suggested that it's not good for business "to have the pendulum swing back and forth as administrations change." 

Asked about whether Trump should consider staying in the agreement, the American Petroleum Institute told Fox News Digital they support the treaty's ambitions.

"We have long supported the ambitions of the Paris Agreement, including global action to reduce greenhouse emissions and alleviate poverty around the world," an API spokesperson told Fox. "The U.S. leads the world in producing energy and reducing emissions, and our industry remains focused on accelerating that progress." 

Paris City Hall is lit up in green to mark the disapprobation of the French capital and its socialist mayor, Anne Hidalgo, against the decision of then-President Trump to withdraw from the climate agreement made in Paris. (Emeric Fohlen)

The Trump campaign confirmed to Politico in June that the president-elect would be in favor of once again removing the U.S. from the agreement if elected to a second term.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Chevron, TotalEnergies and BP for comment but did not hear back by press time.