Nike Leaves Chamber of Commerce Board! « It’s Getting Hot In Here

Cross-posted from: here

The Chamber of Commerce has been fighting the regulation of carbon dioxide for a long time, and has been very intense in its opposition this year because of pending Federal legislation. Wonkroom has a great history lesson of all the shenanigans of the Chamber, most recent of which was calling for a “Scopes Monkey Trial” on global warming.

Many large businesses that sit on the Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors have taken issue with the Chamber’s inability to represent their views on climate legislation. As a result, Excelon, PNM Resources, PG & E have left the Chamber. Duke Energy and Alstom left coal front lobby group ACCCE, after their controversies. Johnson&Johnson wrote an angry letter to the Chamber. But one of the strongest advocates for climate action, Nike, was still on the board of directors of the Chamber. Nike is a member of Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP), a business coalition that supports federal clean energy and climate policy. As GetEnergySmart lamented, Nike just couldn’t “do it”. Well, on the day the Senate climate bill is being released, Nike Did It. Now, as EnviroKnow says, when will Nike leave for good?

Which begs the question. Will the Chamber of Commerce have anyone in it by the end of the year if it keeps advocating for the destruction of civilization? Nike’s statement below.

“Nike believes US businesses must advocate for aggressive climate change legislation and that the United States needs to move rapidly into a sustainable economy to remain competitive and ensure continued economic growth.

As we’ve stated, we fundamentally disagree 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.

We believe businesses and their representative associations need to take an active role to invest in sustainable business practices and innovative solutions.

It is important that US companies be represented by a strong and effective Chamber that reflects the interests of all its members on multiple issues. We believe that on the issue of climate change the Chamber has not represented the diversity of perspective held by the board of directors.

Therefore, we have decided to resign our board of directors position. We will continue our membership to advocate for climate change legislation inside the committee structure and believe that we can better influence policy by being part of the conversation. Moving forward we will continue to evaluate our membership.”

About Matt

I'm currently a graduate student pursuing a Masters in Public Policy with a focus in environmental policy at the University of Maryland Public Policy Program. I'm have a Bachelors of Arts in Government and Politics from of the University of Maryland College Park. I blog largely about politics relating to energy, and the environment. I'm the former Campaign Director of UMD for Clean Energy at the University of Maryland, and am still a member. My undergraduate time in college was full of climate activism including pressuring my university to commit to and finalize a climate action plan, petitioning to get the University School System of Maryland to commit to carbon neutrality by 2050, helping pass one strongest pieces of statewide global warming legislation in the country, pressuring federal leaders to pass federal climate legislation, and leading a campaign to push a green platform in our local city council elections while mobilizing students to vote in large numbers for candidates that supported it. On top of that, I'm a big political junkie. Currently, I'm the Campaign Director for Prince Georges County Council candidate Mary Lehman. During my time as an undergraduate, I wrote bi-weekly opinion columns for our college paper The Diamondback on college, statewide, and Federal issues pertaining to energy and environment. This isn't all my life though, just like err...90% of it! I'm a long distance runner, I love watching sports, I play poker etc...but there won't be much in this blog about any of that.

It’s Getting Hot In Here