Some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley have openly spoken out about US president Donald Trump's announcement on Thursday that America would be leaving the worldwide agreement to combat climate change.
The Paris Agreement took place in December 2015 when 195 countries, all except Syria and Nicaragua, signed an agreement to deal with and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
South African born Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk said he would be leaving Trump's business advisory panel due to the announcement.
"[I] am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world," he tweeted shortly after.
He is joined by chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, Robert Iger, who tweeted: "As a matter of principle, I've resigned from the President's Council over the #ParisAgreement withdrawal."
Chairman and CEO of General Electric, Jeff Immelt, tweeted: "Disappointed with today's decision on the Paris Agreement. Climate change is real. Industry must now lead and not depend on government."
Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey said the move was "incredibly short-sighted" and a "move backwards by the federal government. We're all on this planet together and we need to work together."
Google, Uber, Salesforce and Amazon also all spoke out against the decision and said they would continue to make their own companies sustainable.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his platform: "Withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement is bad for the environment, bad for the economy, and it puts our children's future at risk.
"For our [Facebook's] part, we've committed that every new data centre we build will be powered by 100% renewable energy. Stopping climate change is something we can only do as a global community, and we have to act together before it's too late."
Similarly, Apple's CEO Tim Cook tweeted: "Decision to withdraw from the #ParisAgreement was wrong for our planet. Apple is committed to fight climate change and we will never waver."
In an internal memo, obtained by tech news site Gizmodo, Cook said to his employees: "We power nearly all of our operations with renewable energy, which we believe is an example of something that's good for our planet and makes good business sense as well.
We will keep working toward the ambitious goals of a closed-loop supply chain, and to eventually stop mining new materials altogether. Of course, we're going to keep working with our suppliers to help them do more to power their businesses with clean energy. And we will keep challenging ourselves to do even more."
In a LinkedIn post, Microsoft president Brad Smith said Microsoft was disappointed in the decision by the White House to withdraw from the agreement.
"Microsoft believes that climate change is an urgent issue that demands global action. We have a longstanding commitment to sustainability, which includes operating 100% carbon neutral and setting goals to increase the amount of green energy to power our operations.
"We all live on a small planet and every nation needs to work with others to protect it."
Trump's reasons for withdrawal were because the agreement would cause a "major economic wound" as the US would find it very hard to compete with other countries. He said his administration is open to renegotiation if "terms that are fair to the US, its businesses, its workers, its people and its taxpayers" can be reached.
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