President Trump yesterday (1 June) fulfilled one of his campaign pledges by withdrawing the US from the 2015 Paris climate accord. The deal commits signatories to keeping rising global temperatures “well below” 2C above pre-industrial levels and “endeavour to limit” them to 1.5C. However, Trump believes the agreement would hit the US economy. Some of the biggest names in the food sector have hit out at the decision.

Unilever CEO Paul Polman, one of the consumer goods sector’s most vocal chief executives on sustainability, posted a series of tweets this morning, including:

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Daniel Lubetzky, the founder and CEO of US snacks maker Kind LLC, also took to Twitter:

DanoneWave, the French giant’s US arm set up after its acquisition of WhiteWave Foods, posted a short statement on the social-media site:

As did US food giant Mars:

Elsewhere, David MacLennan, the chairman and CEO of US agribusiness giant Cargill, said Trump’s decision was “extremely disappointing”.

“Exiting international accords like the Paris Agreement will negatively impact trade, economic vitality, the state of our environment, and relationships amongst the world community. And it positions the US as an outlier on this important issue. It would have resulted in U.S. economic growth and job creation,” MacLennan said. “We have no intention of backing away from our efforts to address climate change in the food and agriculture supply chains around the world and, in fact, this will inspire us to work even harder. Caring about sustainability of the planet is not only the right thing to do for people and the environment, it is also good business.”

Fran Teplitz, executive co-director at US non-profit Green America, hit out at Trump’s move.

“This move is exactly the wrong direction for our nation and world. There is tremendous urgency – for the sake of our communities, human health, the environment, and the economy – to expedite the transition to a clean energy economy that works for everyone. Trump’s decision to support the fossil fuel industry over the interest of people and the planet is an historic failure.”

Meanwhile, US-based soup, biscuits and baby food maker Campbell Soup Co. said: “We are aware of the potential risks to the food system posed by climate change and continue to support the goals of the Paris climate agreement. Despite the decision by the Trump Administration to exit the agreement, Campbell will continue to take action to address climate change, and we remain focused on delivering against our sustainability commitments. Our primary 2020 sustainability goal is to reduce our environmental footprint – defined as water and GHG emissions per tonne of food produced – by 50%.”

On Sunday 4 June, Mondelez International chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld issued a statement.

“Mondelez International remains committed to our Sustainability 2020 climate change goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. Our goals place us at the forefront of the fight against climate change by setting science-based targets to support the global effort to limit climate change to less than 2ºC. We’ve reduced CO2 emissions from our factories by 7% since 2013 and we’re on track to deliver our 2020 goal of 15% reduction in CO2 emissions. We must all work together to take aggressive steps to combat climate change.  Securing our planet’s precious resources is fundamental to protect future generations.”