Once upon a time, common wisdom held that going green was bad for business; climate action and economic growth could not possibly go hand in hand. And once upon a time, that seemed to be true; carbon emissions dipped and surged along with the economy for decades.
Sarah Chandler, the senior director of operations and environmental issues at Apple, is one such corporate good citizen leading the charge. She knew she wanted to work for planet Earth as a high schooler in the early ’90s. Growing up on a maple-syrup farm in western Massachusetts, she saw how the weather affected production.“I definitely give my upbringing credit for my professional aspirations,” she says.Chandler, who holds an MBA from Stanford University, started at Apple as an intern.
Like Apple’s Chandler, Google’s sustainability officer, Kate Brandt, tackled environmental issues early in her career. In 2014, she was named the United States’ first federal chief sustainability officer. A year later, Brandt moved to Google. In D.C., she saw how much of an impact she could have in the private sector.
Google and Apple took a stand in 2017, soon after President Trump signaled his intention to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. Along with leaders from nearly 4,000 public and private entities, they signed the “We Are Still In” Declaration, vowing a global effort to hold warming to under 2 degrees Celsius, with or without federal support.Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos, also signed on.