Business leaders weigh the U.S.' role in climate policy as Trump transitions to White House

BAKU, Azerbaijan — Dubbed the "climate financing COP," the 29th iteration of the U.N.'s yearly clime acme successful Baku, Azerbaijan, has hosted talks focused connected unlocking important funds to combat biology alteration — and connected the interaction of President-elect Donald Trump's sweeping triumph past week successful the U.S. elections.

"I deliberation it's going to beryllium challenging. The U.S. plays a truly captious relation arsenic an motor for the planetary economy, a operator of caller technology, a root of finance," Rich Lesser, planetary seat of the Boston Consulting Group, told CNBC's Dan Murphy successful Baku.

"President Trump has been precise wide helium doesn't judge successful clime change. I deliberation he's utilized the word that it's a hoax and that helium would instrumentality a overmuch much assertive basal to gathering retired fossil substance infrastructure successful the U.S., and a overmuch much restrictive presumption of however to deploy concern into decarbonization," Lesser added.

The caller equilibrium of powerfulness successful Washington could pb to a rollback of galore climate-linked reforms passed by the medication of incumbent Joe Biden. While campaigning, Trump targeted the Inflation Reduction Act — which helium calls the "green caller scam" — and pledged to rescind immoderate "unspent" funds.

U.S. clime envoy John Podesta, who leads America's delegation astatine COP29, held steadfast connected Washington's continued enactment connected clime policy, saying during the opening of the yearly league that "efforts to forestall clime alteration stay a committedness successful the U.S. and volition confidently continue."

World Bank President Ajay Banga was besides upbeat implicit the incoming administration, telling CNBC that "my acquisition with President Donald Trump successful his archetypal word was that helium listens to applicable reason, nary spin. Give him the facts and fto him instrumentality his ain judgment."

He added, "What I'm going to archer him is what I'm trying to do, which I deliberation transcends immoderate medication — which is, marque the spot enactment better, marque it enactment faster, marque it much efficient, marque it enactment arsenic a amended spouse with the different nationalist improvement banks. Get the backstage assemblage successful and thrust that and marque definite you thrust jobs."

Trump has besides vowed to erstwhile much retreat the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, a 2015 pact successful which astir 200 governments made non-binding pledges to trim emissions. Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods warned against the exit, which aims to bounds planetary warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius supra pre-industrial levels.

"I would promote them to enactment successful the Paris Agreement," Woods told CNBC, adding that Trump tin alternatively bring a "common consciousness approach," to reducing emissions — a task the Exxon Mobil caput said needs a planetary framework.

Trump has made hydrocarbons a cardinal constituent of his campaigning agenda, antecedently vowing to "unleash American Energy" and promising to extremity Biden's "delays successful national drilling permits and leases that are needed to unleash American lipid and earthy state production."

In his code astatine the Republican National Convention successful July, Trump claimed that expanding home lipid and state accumulation would thrust down prices for consumers astatine the pump. Under the Biden government, U.S. crude accumulation averaged 12.9 cardinal barrels per time successful 2023, breaking the erstwhile nationalist and planetary grounds of 12.3 cardinal b/d, acceptable successful 2019 during Trump's archetypal statesmanlike term, according to the EIA.

"I deliberation the accidental for the Trump medication is looking a small further into the future," Exxon Mobil's Woods told CNBC.

"Additional entree to acreage is going to beryllium truly captious wrong the U.S. to marque definite that arsenic we caput down the depletion curve successful the unconventional business, that the manufacture has entree to further resources to make to offset that depletion that people occurs erstwhile producing oil."