Guest essay by Eric Worrall

If climate action is such a pressing priority, why do liberal companies run by vocal activist CEOs allegedly feel the need to fake it?

Climate change: Top companies exaggerating their progress – study

By Georgina Rannard
BBC News

Many of the world’s biggest companies are failing to meet their own targets on tackling climate change, according to a study of 25 corporations.

They also routinely exaggerate or misreport their progress, the New Climate Institute report says.

Google, Amazon, Ikea, Apple and Nestle are among those failing to change quickly enough, the study alleges. 

Corporations are under pressure to cut their environmental impact as more consumers want green products.

Some of the companies told BBC News they disagreed with some of the methods used in the report and said they were committed to taking action to curb climate change.

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Study author Thomas Day told BBC News his team originally wanted to discover good practices in the corporate world, but they were “frankly surprised and disappointed at the overall integrity of the companies’ claims”.

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Amazon said in its statement: “We set these ambitious targets because we know that climate change is a serious problem, and action is needed now more than ever. As part of our goal to reach net-zero carbon by 2040, Amazon is on a path to powering our operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025.”

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The way that businesses talk about their climate pledges is also a big problem, the study says. There is a large gap between what companies say and the reality, Mr Day says – and consumers are likely to find it difficult to determine the truth.

“Companies’ ambitious-sounding headline claims all too often lack real substance,” he explains. “Even companies that are doing relatively well exaggerate their actions.“

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Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60248830

More information about the study is available here.

What a shocker – all these big companies, like Apple, Google, and Amazon, which spend so much effort conducting holier than thou exercises, shouting down opponents, in some cases censoring climate skeptics and conservatives, yet if this report is correct they are mostly a bunch of greedy hypocrites. For shame.