Exxon CEO says Trump should keep U.S. in Paris climate agreement

President-elect Trump should not pull the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) CEO Darren Woods said Tuesday, placing the company at odds with the incoming administration on a key policy issue.

Woods told The Wall Street Journal that a second U.S. exit from the 2015 agreement would create uncertainty and confuse global efforts to stop the worst effects of climate change.

Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris deal in his first term and is widely expected to do so again; the U.S. rejoined the accord under President Biden in 2021, a move Exxon (XOM) supported.

Woods, in Baku, Azerbaijan, at the United Nations COP29 climate conference, said it is bad for businesses “to have the pendulum swing back and forth as administrations change.”

The Exxon (XOM) CEO also said he supports the Inflation Reduction Act, praising the IRA’s credits that focus on the goal of lowering carbon intensity.

“The advantage of the IRA was it focused on outcomes,” thus allowing companies and the market to figure out how best to meet them, Woods told the Bloomberg Zero podcast.

Top U.S. liquefied natural gas exporter Cheniere Energy (LNG) also came out in favor of the Paris agreement at the COP29 conference.

Cheniere (LNG) has spent more than $45B in building LNG facilities and believes that reducing emissions will ensure natural gas plays an important role in the energy transition, VP Anatol Feygin said.