Inspired by Apple CEO Tim Cook, Virgin founder Richard Branson has taken to his blog to say that businesses should begin standing up against climate change deniers. “While Tim told sustainability skeptics to ‘get out of our stock,’” Branson writes, “I would urge climate change deniers to get out of our way.” Cook’s statements came at a recent shareholders meeting, where he soundly shot down a proposal rooted in climate change denial that would have had Apple putting its bottom line above its interests in sustainability. Cook said that those who would prefer Apple do everything purely for profit simply shouldn’t invest.
Richard Branson sides with Apple CEO against climate change deniers
is The Verge’s executive editor. He has covered tech, policy, and online creators for over a decade.
Likewise, Branson says that businesses and other organizations should never be purely focused on the bottom line. He quotes a statement from Cook, “We want to leave the world better than we found it,” and writes that the same is true for Virgin. “This goes for Virgin too,” Branson writes, “and should go for every single organization in the world.” In particular, Branson suggests that climate change should be among the easier causes for disparate groups of people to get behind because it’s so pervasive. As for why deniers should start believing, Branson keeps his argument simple: “If 97 percent of climate scientists agreeing that climate-warming trends over the past century are due to human activities isn’t compelling data, I don’t know what is.”
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