Hmm… unconvincing so far but let’s see if he can actually walk the walk. GE’s decision to turn consumers’ appliances into ecobombs is not an auspicious beginning.
GE’s Immelt wishes he had soft-pedaled green talk
General Electric Co may have grown its clean-tech business fourfold over the past six years, but Chief Executive Jeff Immelt wishes he had spent a little less time talking about it.
The head of the largest U.S. conglomerate, who in January was named a top adviser on job creation to U.S. President Barack Obama, said on Tuesday that GE’s focus on the environmentally friendly aspects of its wind turbines and high-efficiency appliances might have led his critics to believe he was more interested in saving the planet than growing the company.
“If I had one thing to do over again I would not have talked so much about green,” Immelt said at an event sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Even though I believe in global warming and I believe in the science … it just took on a connotation that was too elitist; it was too precious and it let opponents think that if you had a green initiative, you didn’t care about jobs. I’m a businessman. That’s all I care about, is jobs.” (Reuters)
