The president of a Chinese multinational technology company chortled of a “new development” regrading climate change that would enable consumers to obsess about their impact on the environment.
The president of the Alibaba Group, J. Michael Evans, spoke to the attendees at the World Economic Forum.
“We’re developing, through technology, an ability for consumers to measure their own carbon footprint,” he boasted. “What does that mean? That’s where they’re traveling; how are they traveling; what are they eating? What are they consuming on the platform?”
“So: ‘Individual carbon footprint tracker,’” he said delightedly. “Stay tuned; we don’t have it operational yet but this is something that we’re working on.”
Alibaba Group president J. Michael Evans boasts at the World Economic Forum about the development of an "individual carbon footprint tracker" to monitor what you buy, what you eat, and where/how you travel. pic.twitter.com/sisSrUngDI
— Andrew Lawton (@AndrewLawton) May 24, 2022
The Chinese group bragging about an instrument promoting carbon awareness seems ironic considering China’s record on carbon emissions; the BBC reported in May 2021, “China emits more greenhouse gas than the entire developed world combined, a new report has claimed. The research by Rhodium Group says China emitted 27% of the world’s greenhouse gases in 2019.”
“The U.S. was the second-largest emitter at 11% while India was third with 6.6% of emissions, the think tank said,” the BBC added.
The World Economic Forum is championing a project titled Net Zero Carbon Cities; the Forum states of the project, “The urgency of the climate crisis demands immediate actions to turn policy ambitions into impact. The World Economic Forum is uniquely positioned to bring together multi-sectoral business and governmental stakeholders.”
Members of the World Economic Forum apparently like the term “stakeholders”; on Monday, the executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, boasted to his audience at the organization’s summit in Davos, “The future is built by us.”
“By a powerful community as you here in this room,” he continued. “We have the means to improve the state of the world, but two conditions are necessary: The first one, is that we act all as stakeholders of larger communities, so that we serve not only our self-interests but we serve the community. That’s what we call ‘stakeholder responsibility.’”
In late April, Barrons noted that Alibaba was having serious financial trouble: “Alibaba stock remains deep in the red, down almost 30% this year after losing some 50% of its market value in 2021 amid pressure from regulatory crackdowns. The shares are trading around their lowest levels since 2016, set to open around $85 on Tuesday after bottoming out at $76 last month.”