Nike and Apple Inc amongst those who mount a challenge on the US Chamber of Commerce.

Last month I commented on the unbelievable comments of the US Chamber of Commerce (Agnostics & Deniers).

It appears that I was not the only one who felt that these people either had their heads firmly buried in the sand or (worse) were deliberately denying the facts in order to protect their immense revenues at any cost… literally.

At the time, Bill Kovacs, senior vice president for environment, technology and regulatory affairs for the Chamber, called for “the Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century,” (a reference to the famous case that sought to outlaw the teaching of evolution in favour of divine creation) in which the science of climate change could be debated. He eventually retracted the analogy but the Chamber did petition the EPA to hold public hearings on the validity of climate science.

Since then, there has been a flurry of correspondence and activity. The result has been that Nike resigned from its position on the Board of Directors of the Chamber at the end of September, stating that it “fundamentally disagrees with the US Chamber of Commerce on the issue of climate change and their recent action challenging the EPA is inconsistent with our view that climate change is an issue in need of urgent action.”

On October 5th, Apple followed suit and went so far as to say it “supports regulating greenhouse gas emissions and it is frustrating to find the Chamber at odds with [it] in this effort.”

The Chamber struck back with counter accusations but the writing is on the wall; more defections will surely follow in a climate (excuse the pun) where shareholders understand the science and it has become impossible to ignore, never mind deny, the existence of those aspects of climate change that have resulted from human action(s).

What has exacerbated the situation is the fact that lobbying efforts by trade associations against climate change legislation are large scale; the US Chamber spent more than $26 million on lobbying efforts in the first seven months of 2009 alone (though not, it must be stressed, all on climate change denial), far more than any other organisation.

So it seems that a tipping point has been achieved in the US - through the efforts of a few large and influential counter-lobbying organisations. How long it will be before the corporations that have deserted the Chamber actually live up to some of the promises they made upon leaving (both Nike and Apple have been brought to account for green-washing in the past) remains to be seen, but the tide is changing and in a country that generates more greenhouse gases per head of population than any other nation on earth, this is very positive news.

Here in the UK, however, we have a very different challenge. Our Chamber is very much ‘with the programme’; the challenge we face is transitioning from regular talking shops to actually doing something wholesale and large scale. It is far easier to back out of something than it is to commit to doing something – after all, the actions of Nike and Apple will have saved them some serious money whilst enhancing their corporate profile. Our challenge in the UK is to put our money where our mouth is and return to a time where our US cousins once again take our lead, instead of the other way round.

The gauntlet has been thrown down – I look forward to reporting on those who pick it up and demonstrate acceptance of the challenge with appropriate and measurable actions.

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