America's Tech Giants Address Climate Change, Global Warming With Bold Initiatives in 2020

Global warming?  Well, we have to say that it certainly is a hot summer in many parts of the world (north of the Equator) and the U.S. National Hurricane Center has a large list of names for the storms to come.  That’s Arthur and Bertha on to Vicky and Wilfred – 21 named storms so far, with “Isaias” whipping through and causing hundreds of thousands of homes and business to lose power this past week in the NY region. And it was not even a full hurricane in the U.S. Northeast!

And during this week, many communities in the American Midwest lost electric power. Not be provincial here – in the Eastern North Pacific there are storms to come named Amanda and Boris on to Yoland and Zeke.  Central Pacific – Akoni and Ema, and Ulana and Wale are possibly coming your way.  So, can we say this is an effect of global warming or not?  Let’s say…yes, with a number of contributing factors. 

Like steadily rising Greenhouse Gas Emissions (think of methane) drifting up into the atmosphere and over time, changing weather patterns which created more super storms. More torrential rain coming down (hello, Houston and New Orleans!) 

In the U.S.A. major companies have been steadily addressing their carbon emissions and putting in place important programs to reduce emissions, adding renewable energy sources, taking steps to conserve electric power use, and more. 

But if you are a company using a lot of power…and constantly adding power…there are ever more challenges to address.  That’s the case as the world moves online for many activities in business, education, healthcare, investing, shopping, and more.  And coming online -- more AI, robotics, self-driving vehicles, machine-to-machine learning, more and more communication…5G systems…all coming our way.

Over the past few days the major U.S.-headquartered, powerhouse tech firms have been announcing their plans to address GHG emissions…and in the process companies put significant strategies and initiatives in place to protect the planet and do their part of address climate change.  Eight companies launched the Transform to Net Zero coalition, to accelerate action toward a net zero carbon economy. (A.P. Moeller-Maersk, Danone, Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, Natura & Co, Nike, Starbucks, Unilever, Wipro, along with the Environmental Defense Fund).

The examples for you this week are familiar names in the U.S. corporate sector. In the Top Stories line up: Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Apple/Google.

This is just the introduction of G&A's Sustainability Highlights newsletter this week. Click here to view the full issue.