Trump says climate change is ‘the greatest con job ever’ but many CEOs know the science remains the same

CEOs aren’t buying it. During a podcast interview in our office yesterday, Patagonia’s Ryan Gellert compared the president’s comments to gravity-deniers who walk out of a third-floor window and fall to the ground. It doesn’t matter what you believe, he said. The science is still the same.

Dave Regnery of Trane Technologies is emblematic of the CEOs I’ve met here at Climate Week NYC, the world’s largest climate gathering outside COP. He has put sustainability at the core of the $20 billion-a-year provider of heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration systems. The company is on track to cut a gigaton of carbon emissions from its customers’ footprint by 2030, launching 190 new products and solutions in the last year alone, using tech to optimize electricity usage in buildings. And Regnery has done that while delivering double-digit annual revenue growth and more than quadrupling the stock price since Trane emerged from Ingersoll Rand in March 2020. As he said during a fireside chat at Fortune’s annual Climate Week dinner last night, sponsored by Deloitte: “We need to lead with the fact that just because it’s sustainable doesn’t mean it costs more.”

The business case for sustainability is compelling. Global investments in renewable energy in the first half of 2025 rose 10% over this time last year, according to Zero Carbon Analytics. As Jesper Brodin, CEO of IKEA’s main operator Ingka Group, told me on stage during Deloitte’s Horizons event earlier this week, leaders have to take action because “climate change is here.”

The U.S. policy environment doesn’t help. But economist Spencer Glendon points out in his Fall Equinox newsletter, that “what’s demotivating is anxiety: a vague sense that the future is bad.” With more companies seeing sustainability as a path to profitability, the conversations in New York this week are about how to get things done. For more inspiration, check out the 2025 Fortune Change the World list that’s out this morning, highlighting the companies that are doing well by doing good for the world. Costco, Deloitte, and Mastercard made the list—see the rest here.

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

Top news

Kimmel returns …

Jimmy Kimmel returned to network television last night, saying, “Our government cannot be allowed to control what we do and do not say on television, and that we have to stand up to it.” ABC had taken the show off the air for a couple of days after Kimmel made light of Charlie Kirk’s death and the chair of the FCC threatened legal action. Many local affiliates declined to air last night’s show, even though Kimmel retracted his earlier remarks. Context: Joe Rogan has sided with Kimmel. “I definitely don’t think that the government should be involved, ever, in dictating what a comedian can or cannot say in a monologue,” he said on his podcast.

… and the president makes a new threat against ABC

President Trump threatened unspecified legal action against ABC for giving Kimmel his job back. “He is yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illegal Campaign Contribution. I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative.”

Trump makes a sharp break with Russia

In a surprising reversal of his years-long support of Russia’s President Putin, President Trump yesterday said he supports Ukraine in its war against Russia’s invasion and will supply enough weapons to drive Russia out of its territory. “Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form. With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option,” he said on Truth Social. Some Republicans are thrilled by the turn.

Trump refuses to meet Democrats as shutdown deadline looms

In a lengthy rant on social media, the president said he was cancelling a planned meeting with Congressional Democrats on how to fund the government before it technically runs out of money next week. “After reviewing the details of the unserious and ridiculous demands being made by the Minority Radical Left Democrats in return for their Votes to keep our thriving Country open, I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive,” he said.

Tether seeks $500 billion valuation

Cryptocurrency issuer Tether is in talks with investors for a funding round of $20 billion that would value the company at roughly half a trillion dollars. It would make the company one of the most valuable private companies on the planet.

JLR hack will keep the company offline until at least October 1

A cyberattack brought Jaguar Land Rover to a standstill three weeks ago, and the company is now struggling to pay its suppliers.

Stanford scientists warn of AI “workslop”

Scientists at Stanford say “AI-generated work content that masquerades as good work” is threatening productivity and preventing projects from moving forward. The researchers, who call this content AI “workslop,” argue that companies need to set up guardrails as they integrate AI.

Immigration raids threaten Alabama contractors

Contractors in Alabama are warning that federal immigration raids are threatening their already downtrodden labor market. “It’s definitely affected the ability… to get houses built in a timely fashion. We’ve got huge gaps,” Russell Davis, executive vice-president of the Home Builders Association of Alabama, told Fortune.

“Peter Thiel Wants Everyone to Think More About the Antichrist”

That’s an actual headline on the front page of the WSJ this morning. Thiel is delivering a series of lectures on the threats to humanity posed by “nuclear war, environmental disaster, dangerously engineered bioweapons and even autonomous killer robots,” the WSJ reports. Thiel argues that the Antichrist will come in the form of a one-world government that promises to save humanity from calamity.

The markets

S&P 500 futures were up 0.14% this morning. The index closed down 0.55% in its last session. STOXX Europe 600 was down 0.31% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 down 0.24% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.3%. China’s CSI 300 was up 1.02%. The South Korea KOSPI was down 0.4%. India’s Nifty 50 was down 0.22% before the end of the session. Bitcoin declined to $112.5K.

Around the watercooler

OECD warns Trump’s tariffs have ‘yet to be fully felt in the U.S. economy,’ downgrades growth forecast with grim outlook by Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez

Jerome Powell says Gen Z without tech skills are getting crushed in the ’low-hire, low-fire’ job market—and colleges are failing them by Eva Roytburg

Ford’s CEO: America is ignoring the ‘essential economy’ as AI eats entry-level white-collar jobs by Nick Lichtenberg

Disney heiress says any billionaire who can’t manage to share their wealth is ‘kind of a sociopath’ by Sydney Lake

One big winner of Trump’s H1-B crackdown could be Canada by Phil Wahba

CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.