Are Big Tech Companies Falling Short on their Environmental Responsibilities?

It is a fair challenge to say that tech has caused most of our environmental and climate challenges over the past 50 years. Of course, tech has delivered huge value in every sector, especially in terms of equality, education and economic growth.

But at the same time, it is technology that has revolutionised farming methods that exploit natural resources and control nature. Tech has industrialised resource and mineral extraction, included rainforest destruction. And it has accelerated human domination of the natural world, .driving energy consumption and the expansion of carbon emitting transport.

Yet technology is also the solution to these environmental challenges – if the big tech companies are truly committed. IT can solve most if not all the environmental crises humanity faces, as long as we act together in term of global policies, research, and the priority placed on green tech investments.

Unfortunately recent analysis suggests that @Microsoft, @Amazon, @Apple, @Facebook, and @Google dedicate a relatively small fraction of their efforts to advancing climate-related policy around the world:

https://influencemap.org/report/Big-Tech-and-Climate-Policy-afb476c56f217ea0ab351d79096df04a

This is not saying that they are not doing anything to address climate change - far from it. Just that, because of the impact they have directly and indirectly, they are not doing enough, particularly in terms of their influence on government policies.

The dominance of these giants means that they must go beyond being exemplars of ‘corporate social responsibility’, and environmental policies. They need as well to be dedicating a more significant of their profits and research to environmental and social challenges, and influencing governments across the planet, even at risk to their direct shareholder value.