The online retailer is the latest tech giant to leave the right wing lobbying group over its position on climate change

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Ebay announced on Thursday it’s severing ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec) because of the lobbying group’s views on climate change. The online marketplace is the latest technology firm to part ways with the rightwing organization over environmental concerns.

“After our annual review of eBay’s memberships in trade associations and third-party organizations, we’ve decided not to renew our membership with Alec,” an eBay spokesperson said.

In September, Eric Schmidt announced Google would be leaving Alec because “they’re just literally lying” about climate change. This prompted a wave of departures from other tech companies, including Facebook and Yelp, over similar concerns. Microsoft had previously left Alec in July.

The current exodus from Alec marks a change from a previous round of departures, in which companies left Alec over concerns about its stance on “stand your ground” legislation.

Environmental activists welcomed eBay’s move. “This is a major victory for those of us who have continued to pressure eBay executives to drop Alec,” said Ryan Canney, senior campaigner from the NGO Forecast the Facts.



Nick Surgey, director of research at the Center for Media and Democracy, said: “[Nearly] Alec’s entire tech membership has abandoned them over climate denial.”

Remaining Alec members include tobacco, telecommunications and fossil fuel companies, prompting the question of whether Alec will move away from tech issues and focus on the interests of its remaining members.



“You have to question whether Alec will continue to even work on tech issues,” Surgey said.

Jonah Sachs, co-founder and CEO of Free Range, said that beneath the surface of the decision to leave the conservative group might be a concern over the economics of tackling climate change. “Some of these companies are having to deal with the issue of whether completely free, unregulated markets can deal with the problem of climate change,” Sachs said.

Canney added: “With eBay out, we’re looking to AT&T, Verizon, FedEx and UPS to follow suit and distance themselves from Alec’s extreme climate denial agenda. If they choose to stay with Alec, we’ll be taking the issue to their customers, shareholders and employees.”

Alec wasn’t immediately available to respond to requests for comment as its communications team is “home for the holidays”, according to multiple automated email replies.

Update: This article has been updated to include more comments.

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