When Donald Trump pulled out from the Paris Agreement, Apple CEO Tim Cook fired back, tweeting that the decision was “wrong for our planet.”
But unless corporations like Apple address the carbon bombs littering its supply chain, we don't have a chance at saving the Paris accord—or our planet.
Apple is 100% right that Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris accord is a horrible blow to humanity. But Apple has been patting itself on the back for its “green” environmental record while letting the factories that make its batteries, chipboards and screens soak our atmosphere with carbon.
The factories that produce Apple parts can generate four times the carbon emissions it takes just to assemble the phone. All the coal and gas burned to manufacture, ship and assemble iPhone parts don’t get included in a corporation’s environmental rating—and the result is killing our planet.
Tell Apple to do better than Trump -- take responsibility for its climate pollution now.
We need to keep pressuring governments around the world to sign deals like the Paris Agreement and make sure they honor them. But it’s ultimately corporations like Apple that will be responsible for cutting emissions. And if Apple simply lets offshore suppliers literally do its dirty work, the planet will continue on its road to ruin.
Corporations like Apple have become better and better at presenting themselves as climate-friendly, but climate change hasn’t slowed down. That’s largely because big public-facing companies have shifted all a lot of their manufacturing to China. They outsource part of their supply chain to other smaller manufacturers and R&D firms so they can weasel out of taking responsibility for their pollution.
If we want to get serious about stopping climate change, we have to hold corporations like Apple accountable for all the pollution they’re responsible for—not just the pollution they’re willing to tell us about.
Demand that Apple discloses its supply-side carbon emissions now!
More information
HuffPo. 14 March 2014.
The Independent. 1 June 2017.