Nike Resigns from Chamber Board

Yet another blow to the US Chamber of Commerce today, as Nike announced that it is resigning from the board of directors because of the group's views on climate change policy. The Chamber was already in a tailspin this week, attempting to reclassify their position on climate policy following the departure of three major utilities.

"Nike believes US businesses must advocate for aggressive climate change legislation and that the United States needs to move rapidly into a sustainable economy to remain competitive and ensure continued economic growth," Nike said in a statement. "As we've stated, we fundamentally disagree with the US Chamber of Commerce on the issue of climate change and their recent action challenging the EPA is inconsistent with our view that climate change is an issue in need of urgent action."

Nike said in their statement that they will maintain membership in the Chamber in order "to advocate for climate change legislation inside the committee structure" and because they believe they "can better influence policy by being part of the conversation." They will, however, "continue to evaluate" their membership moving forward. Here's more from their  statement:

It is important that US companies be represented by a strong and effective Chamber that reflects the interests of all its members on multiple issues. We believe that on the issue of climate change the Chamber has not represented the diversity of perspective held by the board of directors.

The country's largest electric utility, Exelon, announced on Monday that they are leaving the group, following the recent departures of California utility PG&E and New Mexico utility PNM.

Nike is also a member of a business coalition advocating for comprehensive climate change legislation—Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy, or BICEP for short.