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Apple CEO Tim Cook: Trump's Decision to Withdraw From Paris Accord 'Was Wrong for Our Planet'

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Apple CEO Tim Cook this afternoon sent an email to Apple employees expressing his disappointment with U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris climate deal.

In the email, which was shared by BuzzFeed, Cook says that while he tried to persuade Trump to keep the United States in the agreement, "it wasn't enough." Cook goes on to reiterate Apple's commitment to reducing its environmental impact through renewable energy and an eventual closed-loop supply chain.
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
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Cook, who also shared his disappointment in a tweet, was one of many tech leaders who attempted to persuade Trump not to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement earlier this week, but on Thursday, the president announced that the United States will indeed withdraw from the accord. Since the announcement, tech company CEOs have been speaking out against the decision while pledging to continue to fight climate change.

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
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said leaving the accord "puts our children's future at risk," while Google CEO Sundar Pichai said he was disappointed with the decision. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who said yesterday he had done all he could to advise the president to remain in the accord, made good on a promise to leave the advisory councils he served on.

Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world. - Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 1, 2017
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Disney CEO Bob Iger also announced that he's resigned from the President's Council following the decision, while Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said the company would double its efforts to fight climate change. Many other major companies, including IBM, GE, Microsoft, and Intel have also spoken out against the move.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple CEO Tim Cook: Trump's Decision to Withdraw From Paris Accord 'Was Wrong for Our Planet'
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/06/01/tim-cook-paris-accord-apple-email/
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Reactions: KdParker, superscape, DancingTiger01 and 3 others
I know people say that Tim Cook should stay out of politics. I think Tim Cook should stay in politics. In fact, Cook should stay in politics full-time so that someone else who actually cares about innovation can become the CEO of Apple.
 
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Reactions: LastName, Rivvvers, Joegrech and 153 others
All these CEOs should have encouraged Obama to push this to the senate. That is how our country does treaties. Any treaty one man does is undone by one man (or woman). Obama decided he should do this on his own without turning it over to the senate, so he made certain that any president that wanted to could withdraw. So here we are.
 
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Reactions: kfeltenberger, SeanR1, thedave44 and 42 others
While I may not disagree with Cook's take on the Paris Accord, I do think he's being hypocritical by making computers that get harder and harder to repair and are impossible to upgrade (and thus extend their useful life), but criticizing others for not being green. And yes, I know about all of Apple's green initiatives....
 
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Reactions: MrkJensen, eastmanweb, LastName and 96 others
Good news is it takes a long time to get out of the Paris Climate Agreement, and the final step is after the next election.

Countries can't withdraw until three years after the Paris Agreement went into effect.
The Paris Agreement entered into force on November 4, 2016; so this means the US would have to stay with it until November 2019. After that, the rules mandate a one-year notice period, which would mean a withdrawal in late 2020; after the next presidential election on November 3, 2020.

Today, the Paris Climate Agreement is polling at over 70% in favor with voters (indicating Republicans are split on it, with Democrats and Independents strongly in favor), and well over 50% in favor among the whole US population. This will be a campaign issue in 2020, and Trump has set himself and his party up to be on the wrong side of it.
 
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Reactions: eastmanweb, Preed08, SVTM and 77 others
ThomasJL said:
I know people say that Tim Cook should stay out of politics. I think Tim Cook should stay in politics. In fact, Cook should stay in politics full-time so that someone else who actually cares about innovation can become the CEO of Apple.
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It's disgraceful that this issue is even considered "politics," that some are so wilfully blind as to think the long term well being of our species and our planet is just another issue that can be debated back and forth and used as a political cudgel, as if the science isn't clear and the dangers aren't real.

It's a true embarrassment that not everyone is behind doing anything and everything we can do, as the richest and most powerful nation in the world. Even more shameful is how Paris was just a tiny first step, and we couldn't even make that.
 
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Reactions: paryl, Billberryjuice, eastmanweb and 98 others
Interesting how many "stay off my lawn comments" on here.... I'm okay with Apple fighting for the environment even if it means politics. I doubt Tim is on the "design floor" or coming up with any new ideas, or coding in between these political statements. He is a figurehead, one who presides over a company who very publicly states that their ideology is the exact opposite of the current administration. By the way, Lisa Jackson's job is to comment on these matters, and she is in the news more often than Tim on climate matters. And Tim is her boss just like he is the boss of the lowly Apple Store employee. Should he not comment on anything other than CEO stuff like emails, paper shredders, memo and TPS reports?

Nobody else seems to give a **** about thinking towards the future, I say good on Cook, musk, zuckerberg and others.
 
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Reactions: eastmanweb, LordJohnWhorfin, FriendlyMackle and 30 others
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