Adding momentum to the revolt against the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Apple on Monday resigned from the business group because of its opposition to federal efforts to limit greenhouse gases.
Apple is the fourth company and the largest, as well as the first tech company, to part ways with the chamber as the debate over global warming legislation heats up in Congress. It is also the most significant defector because Apple is a leading American brand and consumers strongly identify with its products.
"Apple's departure is a clear signal that more and more of the chamber's members want it to download a new tune when it comes to climate change," said Peter Altman of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
"There
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is a growing recognition in the business community that strong clean-energy and climate legislation is the way to strengthen our economy, reduce our oil imports and reduce pollution, but the chamber is turning a deaf ear to the trend."
The chamber is the world's largest business federation, representing 3 million dues-paying businesses large and small. It has a formidable lobbying operation in Washington, touting on its Web site that it "consistently leads the pack on lobbying expenditures." Membership is voluntary and there are no concrete consequences for quitting.
The group has come under fire for opposing an Environmental Protection Agency plan, announced last week, that would allow the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions
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from nearly 14,000 coal-burning power plants. The chamber also actively opposed the Waxman-Markey energy bill that was passed by the House in June. And a senior chamber official recently drew ridicule when he called for a "Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century" to evaluate evidence of global warming, referring to the 1925 trial of Tennessee teacher John Scopes, who was convicted of teaching evolution. Environmentalists called it a stalling tactic, saying the scientific evidence of climate change is overwhelming.
"Apple is committed to protecting the environment and the communities in which we operate around the world," Catherine Novelli, Apple's vice president of worldwide government affairs, said in a letter to Thomas Donahue, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce president and CEO. "We strongly object to the Chamber's recent comments opposing the EPA's effort to limit greenhouse gases."
The move comes amid efforts by Apple to burnish its green image. The Cupertino-based company revealed its carbon footprint — or total greenhouse-gas emissions — for the first time last month, announcing on its Web site that 53 percent of the 10.2 million tons of annual carbon emissions it takes responsibility for comes from consumer use of its products.
The company has taken a broad view of greenhouse gas emissions, using a "life-cycle analysis" to calculate greenhouse gas emissions for each product, from production to transportation, consumer use and recycling.
"We believe it has resulted in the broadest possible measure of the carbon footprint for each of our new products," Apple said in response to a lengthy questionnaire by the Carbon Disclosure Project, which publishes emissions data for the world's largest corporations. "No other electronics company reports this information at the product level, but we think they should."
Barbara Kyle, national coordinator of the Electronics TakeBack Coalition, which promotes recycling, said Apple has made great strides in recent years. Many of the casings of its products are now made not of plastic but aluminum, which is easier to recycle. Apple also has improved the energy efficiency of its products and has increased its recycling efforts. And it has phased out some of a the worst toxics, including brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
"Apple is not waiting for legislation to ban these substances," the company boasts on the detailed "Environment" section of its Web site. "Not only is every Mac, iPod, and iPhone free of PVC2 and BFRs, we are also qualifying thousands of components to be free of elemental bromine and chlorine, putting us years ahead of anyone in the industry."
The exodus from the chamber began last month, when PG&E announced it was leaving because of the group's "obstructionist tactics" over efforts to regulate global warming. Two other utility companies — PNM of New Mexico and Chicago-based Exelon — followed PG&E's lead. Athletic shoemaker Nike resigned from the chamber's board of directors but has chosen to remain a member in hopes of changing the federation's climate-change policy from within.
As pressure on the chamber has mounted, speculation had grown about which Silicon Valley company would be the first to quit.
Former Vice President Al Gore, who was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work fighting global warming, has been on Apple's board of directors since 2003. Apple declined to comment about Gore's role, if any, in its latest green efforts and decision to leave the Chamber of Commerce. Gore's personal office in Tennessee declined to comment.
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