Apple Resigns US Chamber of Commerce over Climate-Change Policy

Apple is the latest company to resign from the United States Chamber of Commerce because of the chamber’s strident criticism of plans to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in the US. Three large companies made the same move in recent weeks for the same reason, according to a report over at The New York Times.

According to The Washington Post, the chamber has been critical of efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate the greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. Last week, the group's President, Thomas J. Donohue, stated that the group supported “strong federal legislation” to protect the climate. However, legislation passed by the House of Representatives was, apparently, flawed because it did not require other polluting countries to act and did too little to spur U.S. investment in green technologies, according to the report.

“We strongly object to the chamber’s recent comments opposing the E.P.A.’s effort to limit greenhouse gases,” Catherine A. Novelli, the vice president of worldwide government affairs at Apple, wrote in a letter to the Chamber on Monday.

A spokesman for the Chamber, Eric Wohlschlegel, said in an e-mail statement on Monday that, “While we'll continue to represent the broad majority of our membership on this goal, we recognize that there are some companies who stand to gain more than others with the current options on the table.”

Just like Apple, other companies have disagreed with the Chamber’s stance on the matter, including Pacific Gas & Electric, PNM Resources and Exelon. The companies’ membership is due to lapse at the end of the year, and will not be renewed. Nike, for its part, is no longer a member of the Chamber’s board of directors.

In related news, Apple currently ranks around the middle of the scale in the latest edition of the Guide to Greener Electronics. The Mac maker recently claimed its efforts to stay green were not reflected by the chart. Greenpeace admitted that the figures reflected Apple’s situation before the publication of its green initiative. The environmental organization now lauds Apple for being ahead of the industry in terms of removing toxic components.