Elon Musk quits Trump's council showing support for India and China's clean energy efforts

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had vowed to quit US President Donald Trump's advisory council if the US pulled out of the Paris Climate deal and the tech tycoon has stuck to his words.

Musk tweeted that he had quit the council following Trump's announcement to backtrack from the climate deal. Climate change was real, he said, and leaving the accord did not harbour well for America or the world. Musk also showed open support for India and China's efforts to deal with climate change, taking a jab at Trump who disagreed about giving the two countries a bargain in the deal.

Musk posted two separate tweets — first on China's efforts to produce clean electricity and second on India's plan to sell only electric cars by 2030. Both his tweets had reports attached. Trump had argued that both countries got a bargain in the Paris deal making the US a laughing stock.

"India makes its participation contingent on receiving billions and billions and billions and billions of dollars in foreign aid... China will be allowed to build hundreds of additional coal mines, India will be allowed to double its coal production; we're supposed to get rid of ours," said Trump while announcing the Paris climate deal pullout.

While most environmentalists agree that carbon emissions from India and China will increase, economists say the developing state of the two nations should be factored in while offering concessions. Moreover, both countries have committed to increasing their efforts to produce clean energy to counter the carbon emission from coal including those mentioned by Musk above.

Shortly after Musk's withdrawal Disney CEO Robert Iger also quit Trump's advisory panel and his tweet was retweeted by Musk who clearly supports the deal. Musk has been an ardent supporter of clean tech and most of his ventures including Tesla and the Boring Company display technology that results in minimum carbon emissions.