Mike Deerkoski // CC BY 2.0

Apple CEO Tim Cook has unleashed a blistering response on shareholders who questioned the company's switch to renewable energy, telling them to get out of Apple stock.

Since Cook became CEO, the company has vastly increased the amount of renewable energy powering its facilities worldwide. More than three-quarters now run on solar, wind, hydroelectric or geothermal power, up from about a quarter when he took charge of the company.


At the company's annual shareholder meeting, however, a conservative think tank called the National Center for Public Policy Research which holds Apple shares criticised this move and asked the company to pledge that it would not continue environmental initiatives that don't increase profits. "We object to increased government control over company products and operations, and likewise mandatory environmental standards," wrote NCPPR general counsel Justin Danhof in a statement before the meeting. "This is something [Apple] should be actively fighting, not preparing surrender."

Cook's immediate response was to point out that the company's environmental efforts make full economic sense, but he also added: "We do a lot of things for reasons besides profit motive. We want to leave the world better than we found it." If anyone disagreed with that approach, Cook said, they should "get out of the stock".

The NCPPR's proposal was voted down by shareholders.