US will come back to Paris Agreement

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Andrew Liveris, CEO of Dow Chemical speaking at the Innovation Summit in Brooklyn, New York on July 14th, 2017.

Even though President Donald Trump loudly withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement earlier this year, one of his advisors said the break won’t last forever.

“I do believe we will find a way back to [the Paris Agreement],” said Andrew Liveris, Dow Chemical CEO & chairman, addressing a small crowd assembled at the New Lab in Brooklyn.

Liveris, the head of President Trump’s manufacturing council, spoke last weekend at the DS Virgin Innovation Summit in New York City, an event designed to promote sustainable technology. It also featured the NYC ePrix — the city’s first motorsport race in modern history — a fully electric single-seater race.

Liveris commented on what he sees as the massive policy failures in both government and the investing community.

“[Businesses are] in a ninety-day march to make profits,” Liveris said. “If I talk about something that has a solution two or three years from now no investor will be interested. The investment community in this area is minor and without a voice. The investment community of not investing for the future is loud and demanding of profits. We are doing this to ourselves.”

In his view equity markets have been rewarding short-term results over forward-thinking initiatives.

He also said too many people have been left out of the conversation on the three biggest forces changing our world: globalization, digitalization and sustainability.

Sir Richard Branson, who also attended, called the Trump administration’s position on the Paris Agreement “incredibly bizarre” and said Trump may be regretting his decision to withdraw from it.