The boardrooms are on board.

Businesses from Ikea to Nike to Wal-Mart have broadly welcomed the landmark climate agreement achieved at the U.N. climate summit in Paris on Saturday, even as Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill signaled their continued opposition to the Obama administration's efforts to reduce heat-trapping carbon emissions and slow climate change.

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"Today's agreement demonstrates without question that it is possible for us to come together in common cause to address the greatest challenges we face," Unilever CEO Paul Polman said in a statement. "The result is an unequivocal signal to the business and financial communities, one that will drive real change in the real economy."

For the first time, nations from around the globe have agreed to work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by burning fossil fuels, aspire to keep the planet's average temperatures from rising by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius from preindustrial levels, and help poorer developing nations implement clean energy solutions and prepare for the inevitable consequences of climate change, such as rising sea levels and more extreme storms.

The agreement is largely nonbinding and not subject to Senate approval; its major focus is on countries' own self-determined commitments to rein in their emissions and halt climate change. But it does signal to investors, business leaders and utilities around the world that momentum may be shifting from fossil fuels – especially coal – and toward cleaner sources of energy like solar, wind, hydropower and perhaps natural gas, which burns more cleanly than coal but still generates emissions while being extracted and transported.

"It's very hard to go backward from something like this," Nancy Pfund, managing partner of the venture capital firm DBL Partners, which backs clean energy projects, told The New York Times. "People are boarding this train, and it's time to hop on if you want to have a thriving, 21st-century economy."

But that metaphorical train still has a long way to go. Coal, by far the world's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, also remains the greatest source of electricity, accounting for roughly 40 percent of both worldwide and U.S. generation in 2014. The next closest source, natural gas, provided about a quarter of the planet's and country's electricity.

Low prices for wind and solar, however, combined with regulations like the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, are accelerating the transition to lower emissions. Already, renewables were the fastest-growing source of electricity last year, and the Clean Power Plan – finalized this summer, and the first federal rule limiting existing power sector emissions – encourages states and utilities to further cut their greenhouse gases.

Efforts like the Clean Power Plan and other federal environmental regulations – ​ such as limits on mercury emissions and new rules on energy development on federal lands – have encountered opposition from Republican legislators, fossil fuels lobbying groups and some business organizations.

And to be sure, some have castigated the U.N. climate agreement.



"The Paris climate conference delivered more of the same – lots of promises and lots of issues still left unresolved," Stephen Eule, vice president for climate and technology at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for 21st Century Energy – which has cast doubt on climate science – said in a statement.

Sen. James Inhofe – an Oklahoma Republican who has dismissed climate change as a "hoax" and leads the Environment and Public Works Committee – was similarly critical.