Google, Microsoft and Apple will stick to their climate goals in spite of Trump's environmental views
Earlier this week, Donald Trump signed an executive order that effectively killed Obama-era environmental policies. Expressing his love of "clean coal" -- despite such a substance not actually existing -- Trump wiped out Obama orders that aimed to reduce carbon production and signalled an "end to the war on coal."
The signing of the executive order was met with astonishment around the world, and many voices have spoken out against the wisdom of the move. Among those are technology companies, many of whom have said that they will stick to promises they have made to tackling climate change -- something Google is aiming to do by switching to 100 percent renewable energy this year.
While some policies are still under consideration -- such as whether to withdraw from the Paris accord -- others are being rescinded with immediate effect, including requiring government agencies and the military to factor climate change considerations into their plans.
Rolling back the Clean Power Plan (which aimed to cut greenhouse gases from electricity production) and limitations on fracking will take longer to come into play, but in the meantime, the big names in tech have said they will continue to do what they can to limit their impact on the environment.
Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft are among the technology firms to speak out after President Trump signed the executive order which undoes the work done by the Obama administration. In a joint statement the companies said:
We believe that strong clean energy and climate policies, like the Clean Power Plan, can make renewable energy supplies more robust and address the serious threat of climate change while also supporting American competitiveness, innovation, and job growth.
With overwhelming scientific evidence for climate change and mankind's acceleration of it, companies like Apple and Google are increasingly keen to be seen to be doing their part.
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