Large companies and non -profit groups have started to serve or rewrite references to climate change on their websites, reflecting a similar action by American ministries in response to Donald Trump policies.
The Financial Times analysis shows that the declarations on climate change compared to major companies, including Walmart and Kraft Heinz, have been deleted or rewritten in the past year at the same time as a republican reaction against green action has intensified and companies have started to make their zero net objectives back.
Trump, who called climate change, a hoax, has launched a radical attack on environmental policy since its entry into office, while his administration has started to delete or demarcate climate change on the American government's websites.
Among the companies that had previously stimulated their climate action, Walmart deleted a section in which he previously declared that it was “deeply determined to fight climate change”.
In a statement on his website in the middle of last year, the retailer said: “Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time. If we do not take more aggressive measures now, the damage will only get worse and the consequences will be disastrous for these generations and future. »»
In December, these references were deleted and the text on the web page has considerably shortened and rewritten. The retailer, who did not respond to a request for comments, on his web page continued to include that he was “focused on the reduction of emissions from our operations (and) engaging suppliers to reduce emissions in supply chains”.
Areeba Hamid, Co-Executive Director of Greenpeace UK, warned that companies were likely to “commit the brand's self-sabotage by erasing and diluting references to the climate on their websites”.
“We know. . . Customers and employees are concerned about the way climate change upsets their lives, because it makes air more difficult to breathe, their water dirtier and more expensive, “she said.
“In the end, the fight against climate change is a responsible company and strengthens the foundations on which economic prosperity is built.”
Among the other examples include Kraft Heinz, who rewritten his Net Zero and Science Based Targets web page in January, deleting a text reference to a target to reduce 50% emissions by 2030. Instead, the company wrote that it had “faced internal and external challenges in the delivery of our zero net targets” and said that it was recaping these elements.
In a statement, Kraft Heinz said the web page had been updated following his last environmental, social and governance report, adding that he was “fully attached to our zero net ambition”.
On the American Airlines Climate Change web page, a reference to how “low carbon transition is both urgent and in progress” which appeared in July was deleted in November before the elections. American Airlines said that “the website was updated with the language of our last sustainability report. As the website shows, our durability objectives have not changed. »»
The giant of American technology Meta, who did not respond to a request for comments, included a section on his sustainability web page last summer on the “climate change” and “daring climate action”. These references have since been deleted, although she has always declared that she was working with partners to fight climate change.
Ford deleted a reference to “targeting the action of climate change” last summer from the top of his British sustainable page where he published a new report on climate change, while keeping any lower information. Ford refused to comment.
Coca-Cola, on the other hand, wrapped statements around the fight against waste on its sustainability web page after weakening its environmental objectives last December. The company did not respond to a request for comments.
Non -American companies have also changed their websites. A graphic examining the use of renewable energies on the manufacturing sites of Nestlé has been removed from the climate change web page of the consumer goods company, as are the details of the planting of trees. Nestlé said that the graph and information on the planting of trees still belonged to other parts of its website.
Ben Caldecott, director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, warned that the so-called Greenhushing, where companies underestimate their environmental efforts, “undermines transparency and responsibility”.
C charitable organizations also told the FT that they were delighted with their websites, with an American non -profit group that operates internationally by saying that they had rubbed entire pages on online climate change, in part in order to help consolidate American subsidies.
Trump supported a funding freeze that has closed humanitarian and development aid in the United States in the world, including the work of the American agency for international development. This has aroused fears that non -profit groups will find it difficult to access American subsidies for climate development projects.
Others said that climate change projects were renamed with other titles, emphasizing food or water for example.
A person familiar with the thought of the United Nations World Food Program said even before the USAID Cups, there were already expectations that the projects should be renamed.
“Let's not talk about them in terms of climate change, let's talk about them as well as resilience, that the use of sentences like climate change will be just a red climate cloth for a bull.”
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