1 of 2 | President Barack Obama makes comments at a roundtable discussion with business leaders, including Intel CEO Loretta Rosenmayer (left), to discuss climate change and how new technologies can help in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., Monday, Oct. 19, 2015. Pool Photo by Aude Guerrucci/UPI |
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WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- The chief executive officers of 81 major U.S. corporations -- such as Google and Walmart -- promised Monday to increase their efforts to counter climate change during a roundtable meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House.
The CEOs of the companies signed the White House's American Business Act on Climate Pledge -- an initiative for businesses to reduce or eliminate carbon emissions. The Obama administration hopes more companies will sign on before the United Nations Climate Change conference begins in late November in Paris.
"The CEOs around this table, who have already done extraordinary work, are determined to go even further," Obama said. "Right now, we have got 81 companies who have signed on.
"Right now, the commitments that these companies are making total at least $160 billion," the commander-in-chief added. "It ranges from reducing emissions to reducing water usage, to pursuing zero-net deforestation, to purchasing 100 percent clean energy."
Many companies that have signed on so far, the White House said, have sufficient influence in the marketplace to make and inspire wholesale change to the corporate mindset regarding climate change.
"We have seen, for example, companies like Walmart install on-site solar capacity more actively than just about any other company. We have seen Google become the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in the world, with companies like Apple and Costco close behind," Obama said.
"The perception is that this is an environmental issue, it's for 'tree-huggers,' and that hard-headed businesspeople either don't care about it or see it as a conflict with their bottom lines," Obama continued. "Considerations of climate change, energy efficiency, renewable energies are not only not contradictory to their bottom lines, but for these companies, they are discovering that they can enhance their bottom lines."
Some of the pledges by participating companies include reducing emissions by up to 50 percent, reducing water use by 80 percent and moving toward 100 percent use of renewable energy.
During a press conference call earlier Monday, Intel's global environmental director, Todd Brady, praised the Obama administration's leadership in taking action on climate change.
"We believe that global climate change is a serious challenge that needs an equal response," he said. "We are proud to stand with the Obama administration and we look forward to further dialogue on climate change."
"If we are at the forefront of this, if we are the innovators, if we are the early adapters, if we are the example-setters, then we're the ones who are going to be creating and selling the products and services that help the entire world adapt to a clean-energy future," Obama said. "If we are lagging behind, it's not going to happen."
