Major US Corporations Stay the Course on Climate Change
Dan Diehl
General Electric, Mars and even Exxon Mobil have recently announced that they will continue to reduce emissions and work towards their own climate change goals regardless of the Trump administration's efforts to roll back regulations that push utilities to burn cleaner fuels to make electricity.
GE's CEO Jeffrey Immelt said in a Wall Street Journal article dated March 31st, 2017, "We believe climate change is real and the science is well accepted. We hope that the United States continues the play a constructive role in furthering solutions to these challenges." When the CEO of a company that sells parts for coal burning power plants speaks out against rolling back regulations on coal burning power plants you have to sit back and wonder...
Mars Inc. said this week, "The science is clear and unambiguous: Climate change is real and human activity is a factor," adding it was, "disappointed the administration has decided to roll back climate regulations." On March 28th, InBev's CEO Carlos Brito said, "Cutting back on fossil fuels is good for the environment and good for business." One of the largest brewers in the world that brews Anheuser-Busch among many others, has pledged to use 100% renewable energy for all its global operations by 2025. Exxon's CEO said earlier this year, "climate risks warrant action" and called the Paris deal "an effective framework" for dealing with climate change.
The shift towards renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind has occurred. Companies and individuals that think long term aren't swayed by these recent rollback to environmental protections. The Trump administration will be gone in the not so distant future and the pendulum will swing back towards science and reason. When considering long term capital outlays, four to eight years is a short amount of time.