Exxon Mobil Chair and CEO Darren Woods urged the incoming Trump administration to avoid making turbulent climate policy swings — and he pushed the president-elect to reject carbon border taxes favored by some GOP lawmakers.
In an interview with POLITICO, Woods signaled that one of the most powerful players in the energy industry might serve as a moderating influence in Washington, even as Republicans seek to dismantle Biden-era climate policies. The future of the Inflation Reduction Act and other clean-energy programs is one of the most important questions hanging over the incoming administration.
“I don’t think the challenge or the need to address global emissions is going to go away,” Woods said. “Anything that happens in the short term would just make the longer term that much more challenging.”
Woods made the comments via telephone from the COP29 climate negotiations in Baku, Azerbaijan, just days after President-elect Donald Trump won the White House with a vow to turbocharge United States’ fossil fuel production and roll back Biden policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas pollution and speeding the growth of clean energy. Trump is widely expected to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 Paris climate agreement, and his election has scrambled climate diplomacy at the annual talks.