While going to great lengths to promote itself as an environmentally conscious tech firm, Apple joined several industry associations that are “fighting efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” according to a new report from the Tech Transparency Project.
As recently as 2020, the company was an active member of several “business groups that seek to thwart action on global warming,” per the report, which cites Apple’s memberships with Business Roundtable, BusinessEurope and the Texas Association of Business, among other associations with soot on their hands, so to speak. Apple did not respond to a request for comment on the report.
Business Roundtable was among the many corporate-backed groups to oppose the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget resolution last year, which featured a $150 billion plan to boost the development of electric cars and generate more renewable energy. Predictably, the trade group — which also counts Alphabet, Walt Disney and Salesforce as members — fought the legislation over corporate tax hikes.
Another group supported by Apple as recently as 2020, the Texas Association of Business (TAB) came out against the “use of environmental regulatory controls that have the specific effect of promoting an alternative energy policy” in a 2019 statement. The same document laid out the group’s opposition to stricter ozone and methane regulations.
“It’s not clear how Apple, which calls climate change ‘the defining issue of our time,’ is able to square its association with TAB with its environmental positions,” the Tech Transparency Project said. The advocacy group also called out Apple’s history of fighting back right-to-repair laws, which aim to curb e-waste.