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Apple exec and former EPA head: To spark climate action, find the people who are inspired

During an event at Stanford, the vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives at Apple and former Environmental Protection Agency head Lisa P. Jackson discussed her efforts to reduce climate impacts and create ripple effects throughout industry.

Wide view of Lisa P. Jackson and Laurene Powell Jobs smiling in conversation on stage
Lisa P. Jackson, vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives at Apple, joined the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability for a conversation moderated by Laurene Powell Jobs on May 8. (Image credit: SF Photo Agency)

When Lisa P. Jackson was growing up in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans in the 1960s and ’70s, she didn’t appreciate the Mississippi River flowing through the city. 

“Back in those days, we thought of rivers as places to put our sewage and our waste, and so they smelled that way and they kind of looked that way,” Jackson said during a May 8 conversation at Stanford University. The construction of a riverside promenade known as the Moon Walk, led by then-Mayor Moon Landrieu, changed her perspective. “[Landrieu] understood, way back then, the power of the natural environment to define a place.”

The connection between humans, communities, and the environment has shaped Jackson’s career. In her role as vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives at Apple since 2013, she has helped spearhead the company’s efforts to reduce emissions by more than 60 percent. Now, she is leading Apple toward its goal of becoming carbon neutral for its entire footprint by 2030.

Laurene Powell Jobs, founder and president of investment firm and philanthropic venture Emerson Collective, interviewed Jackson on stage at the event. Powell Jobs described Jackson’s life as a “dizzying swirl of brilliance, action, and foresight” and praised her “transformational energy.”

The discussion was part of Big Ideas in Sustainability, a series hosted by the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability that invites global thought leaders for conversations that engage the entire Stanford community. Dean Arun Majumdar introduced the speakers in his opening remarks, describing the talk as a learning opportunity.

“Our ambition needs to match the scale, the complexity, and the urgency of the issues, and this requires insights and perspectives from a variety of diverse backgrounds and experiences,” Majumdar said. 

Government and industry leadership

Jackson spoke about her parents, a mail carrier and a secretary who taught her the power of community. A summer program at Tulane University – to which Jackson was drawn by the promise of a TI programmable calculator – spurred her to pursue engineering. She attended graduate school at Princeton and explored connections between human health and the environment as a young engineer.

Jackson started her public service career at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), returning as President Barack Obama’s EPA Administrator in 2009. In her role at Apple, she focuses on reducing the environmental repercussions of mineral extraction, energy, travel, and more at one of the largest consumer electronics companies in the world. 

For 2030, Apple has set a goal of reducing all of the emissions associated with its operations and the manufacturing and use of its products by 75 percent. The company aims to balance the remaining emissions by having an equivalent amount removed from the atmosphere. 

“That means our entire supply chain, and it means the energy used by our users and customers where they charge their devices. So, it’s everything,” Jackson said. “And we are on track to be there.”

Apple’s efforts are informed by a 2007 memo by Steve Jobs called “A Greener Apple,” in which Jobs urged his company to focus on action rather than ratings and rankings.

“That became our mantra. We don’t want to just promise all these things and get 100% on this score or that score,” Jackson said. “We just want to do it, show it can be done, and can be done at the same time as you run a successful company.”

Setting Apple’s goals

Close-up of Lisa P. Jackson smiling and speaking on stage
Jackson discussed priorities for reducing climate impacts at Apple. (Image credit: SF Photo Agency)

When Jackson started at Apple in 2013, CEO Tim Cook gave her a mission: Get to know the company, understand it deeply, and then tell him where Apple should be headed. His goal was not just to make Apple a leader, but to change the broader industry, Jackson said.

She spent months talking to people across the company before identifying three priority areas: making influential climate change impacts; using recycled and renewable materials; and using safer chemistry. 

As an engineer herself, Jackson knew Apple employees would be up for the challenge of pursuing carbon neutrality. Engineers love boundary conditions and hard problems, she said, and Apple’s engineers are motivated not only to make great products, but also to figure out how to do it while lowering a product’s carbon footprint or increasing its recycled content.

The business of environmental work

Jackson reminded the audience of nearly 200 that anyone, anywhere can take climate action.

“You don’t have to be the head of the EPA to do this work. You don’t have to be at Apple with an incredible leader like Tim to do this work,” she said. “You have to do this work and find the people in the company who are inspired by it and then move through.”

Jackson suggested starting with easy, efficient changes that save the company money. Apple doesn’t approach its environmental work as philanthropy but as business, she said.

The company looks for partners who want to solve problems and collaborate, Jackson said. Companies connected to Apple through its supply chain, especially, are key.

“Most of the work on our carbon removal, on our clean energy investments, we’re investing alongside them or enabling them to understand how to find deals that will make sense, because a lot of smaller companies don’t have the ability to go out and assess the deal,” she said.

Companies under contract with Apple are required to install clean energy for their Apple production by 2030. Jackson said most companies have agreed to the change, but they often want guidance on how to do it economically.

Powell Jobs pointed out the broader benefit of these partnerships: “Obviously, they supply other products as well, and so it lifts up the whole industry.” They can also play a role in ensuring that the transition away from fossil fuels doesn’t leave people, places, or industries behind. 

Advice for students

Jackson ended her talk by responding to a Stanford student asking for advice about entering the job market.

“I didn’t have a plan. I know some of you may have a plan, and you may be now looking at a plan that is kind of disintegrating, changing, or hard to really put your arms around entirely,” she said. “So, embrace the not-planning part, the other side of your brain, and try to find a job. Learn like hell. Get out in the field. Get your hands dirty.”

She encouraged students to take Cook’s advice when they get a new job and first learn what makes the company tick – and to give themselves time to gain experience.

“The world’s going to change again. It really will,” she said. “And that experience you’ve gotten, wherever it is, will be incredibly important.”

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