The Paris Agreement establishes a foundation for responsible collaboration among nations, to achieve the speed and scale of innovation needed to avoid climate disaster. This is no small thing: Before 2015, no such detailed planet-wide collaborative process had ever been conceived, much less agreed. Then 193 nations agreed to pursue the Sustainable Development Goals and 195 agreed the Paris Agreement to end climate disruption.

The future of science, technology, innovation, infrastructure, finance, energy, the human food supply, everyday economics, security, and trade, will be shaped by our ability to work together to achieve climate safety and resilience. Trillions of dollars in capital are waiting, right now, to move into that effort. $26 trillion in new economic opportunity rests on achieving climate and sustainability goals between now and 2030.

The cost of refusing to be part of this world-building collaboration will not only be the trillions wasted on outdated ideas and opportunity surrendered; it will also be the degradation of political capital, trade efficiencies, financial muscle, and technological advantage. It will not be possible for a country trapped in high-pollution business models to compete with the financial and technological efficiencies of clean economies.

World-leading innovation will still happen across the United States, and Liberate Energy is committed to being a leader in that necessary work. It would, however, be ill advised to treat such a costly mistake as withdrawal from the Paris Agreement as unimportant. Every major system that supports American innovation leadership will be degraded if government and industry continue to push high-cost pollution-intensive business models while the nation labors to get out from under that burden.

Meanwhile, the world is leaving such outdated thinking behind:

• At least $5.42 trillion has been committed to climate-smart finance.
• 155 million Americans with combined GDP of $9.46 trillion in GDP across all 50 states live in jurisdictions committed to Paris Agreement goals.
• 515 institutional investors managing $35 trillion in assets have urged governments to ambition of climate action.
• Taxpayers, legislatures, businesses and investors are coming together to efficiently offload carbon liability.
• The biggest trade deals in world history all relate to building the green economy.
• Wealthy industrial economies are committing to the greening of their financial sectors.
• We will soon be able to detail the embedded climate intelligence (or lack thereof) of any kind of business activity.

No nation can afford to be left out of the high-efficiency clean economy. Everything we think of as structuring our economy will be altered by critical innovations in coming years. It is morally, practically, and mathematically irresponsible to attempt to turn back the clock on pollution-free industry, transportation, and energy.