Trump’s decision to remove America from the Paris Climate deal, a non-legally binding pact made between members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to curb global warming, was met with widespread condemnation domestically and abroad.
While the move was not an off-brand for the 45th president, many noted it was a poor choice for the US economy.
That is because investment into renewable, clean energy has been on the rise in the US and around the globe.
According to Deutsche Asset Management’s second sustainable finance report released Thursday, 58 countries representing over 85% of global GDP have now implemented regulations or guidelines on sustainability reporting, ESG integration or exclusions.
And within that segment, America’s contribution to the renewable and ethical investment industries is staggering.
Data from the International Renewable Energy Agency, cited in the report, showed that jobs within the US solar sector have grown by 60% in the three years to 2015.
And currently, around 770k people are employed in the US renewable sector, far greater than the 187k employed in the domestic oil and gas extraction sector.
Furthermore, costs of implementing and managing renewable technology have been declining, one of the reasons why IMPAX Asset Management believes Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris agreement is baseless.
“Increasingly environmental markets are driven by economics not subsidies,” the firm said.
