Big Tech CEOs for Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other companies signed an agreement with a labor union leader stating that they would uphold the standards set by the Paris Agreement.
The United States government, under President Trump, pulled out of the Paris Agreement in 2017, the only country to do so.
The statement, signed by 78 CEOs, said: “[M]any of us came together to rally behind the US’ participation in the Paris Agreement. We came to say we are still in.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook, Salesforce Co-CEO Marc Benioff, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai all signed the agreement.
The statement “urge[d] the United States to join us in staying in.”
It painted a bleak picture, saying, “Today, with record temperatures across the country, fiercer hurricanes pummeling coasts, more destructive wildfires, droughts, and flooding disrupting the economy, we have no time to waste.”
It also said that the combined companies employed “more than two million people in the United States” and the union represented “12.5 million workers.”
However, the total of those in the American workforce is estimated to be at around 157 million, according to the Pew Research Center. This statement only speaks for roughly 9.2 percent of American workers, along with their elite employers.
Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted, “Humanity has never faced a greater or more urgent threat than climate change — and it’s one we must face together.
Apple will continue our work to leave the planet better than we found it and to make the tools that encourage others to do the same.”
In November, the United States government sent a formal notification that it will withdraw from the Paris Agreement.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement, “President Trump made the decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement because of the unfair economic burden imposed on American workers, businesses, and taxpayers by U.S. pledges made under the Agreement.”
Trump himself said in 2017, “Compliance with the terms of the Paris accord and the onerous energy restrictions it has placed on the United States could cost America as much as 2.7 million lost jobs by 2025 according to the National Economic Research Associates.”
But the CEOs seem to disagree. They argued in their statement, “Staying in the Paris Agreement will strengthen our competitiveness in global markets, positioning the United States to lead the deployment of new technologies that support the transition, provide for our workers and communities, and create jobs and companies built to last.”
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It’s to keep their AGMs a bit quieter. Shell may spend $2bn on windmills (wow! Bad year revenue 233bn) knowing that government subsidies will run a little longer and that every windmill needs fossil fuel backup 100%
I’m waiting for the Big Technology CEOs to tell us to turn off our gadgets. It’s a nice day, go outside and play.
It is pretty sure that these CEO’s will be doing the same thing as most countries that signed the Paris Treaty. That is be long on talk, and short on action. There are things that a company can do. One of the biggest is to limit travel. Substitute teleconferencing or if travel is necessary don’t send a team if it can be done by one or two employees. Offer anyone who wants it a 4-10 work schedule where there are four 10 hour days in a work week. That would cut down on the emission impact of commuting by 20%. Some companies already do this. I don’t expect much real action by these companies. Usually “we are in” translates to supporting that the middle class families make all the sacrifices.
If “Staying in the Paris Agreement will strengthen our competitiveness in global markets” why is the EU considering emission import taxes so that nations that don’t have a strong climate change agenda won’t have an unfair advantage?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t any formal international agreement the same thing as a “treaty?” Treaties need to be ratified by the US Senate. This one never was. So, to my thinking there isn’t anything to withdraw from, since we never legally entered into it.
I don’t know anything about the other companies, but I guess Apple and Tesla are going to start manufacturing their equipment using magical fantasy electricity and all carbon-neutral components…or maybe just have it made in China with good, old fashioned coal-fired power.
Apple’s products are already made in China but I guess they will get rid of all plastics in them since that comes from petro-chemicals. As to Tesla, not sure how they can manufacture anything w/o lots of fossil fuels.
Companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have vast server farms which require lots of fossil fuels to make those servers, network devices, storage, etc. On top of that the electricity to run those huge datacenters isn’t provided by “green energy” or unicorn farts and pixie dust. These companies also have located their server farms in locations outside California due to the high cost of electricity there.
Needless to say, they are a bunch of lying hypocrites.
As a retired aerospace engineer I’m not particularly knowledge on the subject but I’m pretty sure all formal international agreements are not the same thing as a treaty. Consider trade agreements, these don’t go through treaty ratification. However, a country can back out of such agreements any time, which President Trump should have done in his first day in office with the Paris agreement.
Most countries that signed the Paris agreement went through that county’s process for ratifying a treaty. The best thing that President Trump should have done would be the same. He should have submitted it to the US Senate for ratification where there is no doubt it would have been defeated. That would have clearly resolved the issue.
Just how much do they profit from this whole Global Warming/Climate Change Scam?