AS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL lobbying groups in the country, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has long been a central player in the network of organizations seeding denial about climate change. Its work includes spending millions of dollars influencing elections and lobbying in support of new oil and gas development, rollbacks of U.S. methane regulations, and the repeal of the Clean Power Plan.
Until now, the pro-business group has also supported U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. In 2017, it funded a highly criticized report on the consequences of meeting the commitments of the pact. The report paints a bleak picture of economic downturn and was used by President Trump as evidence for pulling the U.S. out of the pact.
Cartoon by Mike Lester for The Washington Post.
Last week, just before Trump took the first formal step to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement, the lobbying group quietly updated its website with a brand new stance on the matter. A page titled Our Approach to Climate Change now reads:
“Greater collaboration between governments and businesses is essential to build the best models to tackle climate challenges, which is why the Chamber supports U.S. participation in the Paris Agreement.”
The paragraphs were lifted from “One of the Country’s Biggest Climate Denier Groups just Did an About-Face” by Emily Pontecorvo for Grist (
To read Emily Pontecorvo’s article in its entirety, click here.
Greater collaboration between governments and businesses is essential to build the best models to tackle climate challenges. Click To Tweet
FEATURED IMAGE: The photo at the top of this page is the facade of the former headquarters of Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, the oldest Chamber of commerce in the United States, established in 1768 during the British Colonial Period.
