By Thomas Gryta and Bradley Olson 

General Electric Co. CEO Jeffrey Immelt defended efforts to reduce emissions and fight climate change, after President Donald Trump reversed rules that pushed U.S. utilities to use cleaner-burning fuels.

In a blog post to employees Wednesday, Mr. Immelt highlighted the administration's move and said climate change "should be addressed on a global basis through multi-national agreements" such as the 2015 Paris Agreement. The U.S. hasn't withdrawn from that agreement, but the executive order has raised concern it will be hard to reach the pact's targets.

"We believe climate change is real and the science is well accepted," Mr. Immelt wrote. "We hope that the United States continues to play a constructive role in furthering solutions to these challenges."

Mr. Immelt has managed to avoid conflict with President Trump, who has been known to lash out at companies, especially on Twitter. The GE leader visited the White House in February and supports some administration policy plans, such as revising the tax code. He also has defended globalization at a time when many countries are taking a more-nationalist stance.

In the post, Mr. Immelt said companies have to "have their own 'foreign policy'" and "learn to adjust to political volatility all over the world."

GE sells turbines for coal- and gas-fired power plants as well as wind turbines. It has a business unit called Current focused on energy savings. He said the conglomerate has spent $20 billion in research on reducing emission, improving energy efficiency and cutting cost since 2005.

Mr. Trump's order begins a review of former President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan, which would have required utilities to reduce power-plant carbon-dioxide emissions to 32% below 2005 levels by 2030.

The order could extend the life of older coal-powered plants but likely will trigger legal and political challenges. Mr. Immelt acknowledged the order is the beginning of long process with uncertainty around how it will be implemented.

"Industry must now lead and not depend on government," he wrote.

Exxon Mobil Corp. Chief Executive Darren Woods has also publicly supported the Paris climate deal. Shortly after taking over from Rex Tillerson, who stepped down to become secretary of state, Mr. Woods wrote in a blog post that "climate risks warrant action and it's going to take all of us -- business, governments and consumers -- to make meaningful progress." The Paris deal is "an effective framework" for dealing with rising emissions, he said.

Days before last week's executive order, Exxon reiterated this position in a letter to White House energy adviser George David Banks. Exxon supports the deal in part because it includes pledges to reduce emissions from "developed and developing" countries, unlike the Kyoto Protocol climate deal, the letter said. Then-Exxon Chief Executive Lee Raymond famously spoke out against the 1997 treaty, which President George W. Bush eventually declined to implement.

"We believe that the United States is well positioned to compete within the framework of the Paris Agreement, with abundant low-carbon resources such as natural gas, and innovative private industries, including the oil, gas and petrochemical sectors," said Peter W. Trelenberg, an Exxon manager of environmental policy and planning.

Mr. Trelenberg made note of how the use of natural gas in electric power generation has reduced emissions significantly and said these results could be replicated globally. He also said the U.S. would be well served to remain a part of the Paris deal to ensure a "level playing field" in global energy markets.

Write to Thomas Gryta at thomas.gryta@wsj.com and Bradley Olson at Bradley.Olson@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 30, 2017 09:35 ET (13:35 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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