Apple will continue to protect the environment and fight climate change in spite of Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the Paris accord. Tim Cook said as much on Thursday in a tweet and company-wide memo after Trump made the withdrawal official.
The United States is now in a select company of countries who do not support the Paris accord. Nicaragua and Syria are the only two countries that did not ratify it. One of them pledged to fight climate change on its own and did not sign the agreement because it’s not punishing countries who do not play by the rules, while the other is still in a state of Civil War.
Decision to withdraw from the #ParisAgreeement was wrong for our planet. Apple is committed to fight climate change and we will never waver.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) June 2, 2017
“Decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement was wrong for our planet,” Cook said in a tweet. “Apple is committed to fight climate change and we will never waver.”
He then followed up with an email to Apple employees in which he explained that he tried to convince Trump on Tuesday to keep the US in the agreement, “but it wasn’t enough.”
Cook also said in the email that Apple will not stop fighting climate change regardless of Trump’s decision.
“Climate change is real, and we all share a responsibility to fight it,” Cook wrote. “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.”
Apple is hardly the only tech company strongly opposing Trump on this particular matter. Facebook, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Salesforce and Tesla are just a few of them.
Cook’s full memo follows below, as obtained by BuzzFeed.
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
