After President Donald Trump said Thursday that the United States will withdraw from the landmark Paris climate agreement, Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed his disappointment with the decision.
In an email to employees, which was obtained by CNBC, Cook said he had tried to push Trump prior to the decision to keep the U.S. in the agreement.
"I spoke with President Trump on Tuesday and tried to persuade him to keep the U.S. in the agreement. But it wasn't enough," Cook wrote.
He added in the email that climate change was real and that everyone had a shared responsibility to fight it. He assured employees that Thursday's decision will not affect Apple's commitments to protect the environment.
"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."
Cook also called the White House decision "wrong for our planet" in a post on Twitter.
Cook is not the only business leader to have expressed disappointment or disagree with Trump's decision. Earlier, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said he will leave his positions on three presidential councils.
Disney CEO Robert Iger also said he quit the White House's business advisory council over the decision. Goldman Sachs CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, also criticized the decision on Twitter.
After pulling the U.S. out from the climate agreement, Trump said he would start talks to re-enter the accord with what he called a more "fair" deal, but the president was immediately rebuked by several European governments.
Here's the full excerpt of Cook's email.
Team,
I know many of you share my disappointment with the White House's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement. I spoke with President Trump on Tuesday and tried to persuade him to keep the U.S. in the agreement. But it wasn't enough.
Climate change is real and we all share a responsibility to fight it. I want to reassure you that today's developments will have no impact on Apple's efforts to protect the environment. 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. Knowing the good work that we and countless others around the world are doing, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about our planet's future.
Our mission has always been to leave the world better than we found it. We will never waver, because we know that future generations depend on us.
Your work is as important today as it has ever been. Thank you for your commitment to making a difference every single day.
Tim
— CNBC's Tom DiChristopher and Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.