# Is Sustainability Sustainable in the Age of Trump?

1 Opinion April 3, 2017 Stern in the News ![](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/twhelan_article.jpg?itok=Dxl6hyvI) By Tensie Whelan and Michael Greenhouse > Of course, companies know that sustainability isn’t just good for their brand — it’s good for their business.

Let’s face it. This is now a legitimate question. GreenBiz Chairman Joel Makower spoke to the issue very directly in a February 2017 tweet:

“Let’s face it folks, Donald Trump is sustainability’s stress test. We weren’t prepared for this. It is the classic ‘black swan,’ low-probability, high-impact, ‘we didn’t see it coming’ event.”

Makower said this a few months after the author of Black Swan himself, Nassim Taleb, told MSNBC that Trump would not be a black swan event. “In the end, Trump is a real estate salesman, and he’s going to want to deliver what the people want,” said Taleb.

But on environmental policy, the new president has very clearly staked out a position that most Americans do not want, beginning with the appointment of Scott Pruitt as administrator of the Environmental Protection Administration.

Read the full article as published by [*CEF*](http://www.corporateecoforum.com/sustainability-sustainable-age-trump/).
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*Tensie Whelan is a Clinical Professor of Business and Society and Director of the Center for Sustainable Business.*
## More Opinions from Tensie Whelan

- [Demystifying the ‘Say-Do’ Gap in Sustainable Product Purchases.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/opinion/demystifying-say-do-gap-sustainable-product-purchases)
- [How LPs Can Better Assess Sustainability-Linked Value Creation.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/opinion/how-lps-can-better-assess-sustainability-linked-value-creation)
- [Lessons From a Decade of Teaching Sustainability at B-School.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/lessons-decade-teaching-sustainability-b-school)
- [ESG Reporting Needs a Refresh. Here’s How to Fix It.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/esg-reporting-needs-refresh-heres-how-fix-it)
- [The B2B Opportunity in Corporate Sustainability.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/b2b-opportunity-corporate-sustainability)