The Trump administration faces opposition from an unusual source as it tries to unravel former President Barack Obama's climate policies. Several coal companies, including St. Louis-based Peabody Energy, have made a surprising request that the U.S. remain a signatory to the Paris Agreement on reducing greenhouse gases.

Their call to remain at the table is a strategic move to help ensure the United States continues to have a voice in future international discussions aimed at addressing global warming. It's not clear, however, whether maintaining President Donald Trump's voice of obstinacy and denial in international climate-change talks would be the most productive route.

We'd prefer that Trump's aides, with coal company input, seek to better educate the president about the real and growing harm caused by high concentrations of human-produced carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Energy Secretary Rick Perry are among the senior White House officials urging the president not to withdraw from the agreement.

Peabody, the nation's largest coal company, is among the energy giants urging Trump not to back out of the Paris Agreement. The landmark accord commits nearly 200 nations to reducing planet-warming emissions.

The requests, though, stem less from a change of heart than from an interest in keeping business flowing. Coal companies know they're better off when the U.S. has a say as our trading partners decide the world's energy future. The World Coal Association, which includes Peabody, says the U.S. could push for funds to develop low-emission coal technologies. And if the U.S. remains a signatory, other countries can't charge polluter fees on imports of U.S. coal.

Obama's signature Clean Power Plan, which would keep the U.S. in compliance with its Paris promises, suffered a serious blow on April 28 when a federal court accepted the Trump administration's request to suspend a lawsuit by 28 states and over 100 companies, including Peabody. The Trump administration effectively said it would not defend the Obama administration's rules.

A U.S. withdrawal from the Paris accord would open the door for China and India to assume more dominant roles in shaping future rules. The two countries are heavily dependent on coal-fired power plants.

Trump has repeatedly told coal miners that their jobs are coming back, even though demand for coal has been declining for years and shows no sign of rebounding. Renewable energy is the fastest-growing power source, and the coal industry employs fewer people than at any time in the past four decades.

The United States is the world's second-biggest producer of carbon dioxide emissions. It won't matter that coal companies superficially support the Paris accord if top polluters continue ignoring the dangers of rising sea levels and weather extremes brought on by warmer temperatures.

Perhaps Trump will finally get it once his Mar-A-Lago retreat is underwater.

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