Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has made it clear that any Apple investor who denies climate that climate change is happening should simply divest their stock, technology website CNET reported.
This was made evident during the company's recent annual shareholder meeting when Cook bluntly responded to a suggestion given by the National Center for Public Policy Research or NCPPR that asked the tech giant to promise that it would not anymore undertake environmental causes that don't do anything to improve the company's bottom line.
Apparently, the conservative think tank did not like what Apple was doing when it became more dependent on green energy. Mashable reported that over three-quarters of Apple's plants around the world are powered by renewable energy sources like wind, solar, geothermal or hydropower. Under the late Steve Jobs, only a quarter was run on these energy sources.
It did not also like the fact that Cook had engaged the services of former Environmental Protection Agency Head Lisa Jackson to lead the company's sustainability initiatives.
NCPPR General Counsel Justin Danhof expressed the think tank's stand in a statement given to Apple before the meeting. It said in part, "We object to increased government control over company products and operations, and likewise mandatory environmental standards. This is something [Apple] should be actively fighting, not preparing surrender."
Cook, however, responded that it was not going to cave in to politically-motivated demands from shareholders even with its enormous cash pile. Cook said, "We do a lot of things for reasons besides profit motive. We want to leave the world better than we found it."
Shareholders did not agree to the proposal but before the vote, Cook only had one piece of advice to any shareholder who did not like the iPhone maker's stand on the environment. He said, "Get out of the stock."
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