Sustainable outdoor clothing company Patagonia Inc. is donating $10 million to conservation and climate groups from money it saved due to Trump administration’s tax cut package — but the firm’s CEO isn’t particularly happy about it.
“Based on last year’s irresponsible tax cut, Patagonia will owe less in taxes this year — $10 million less, in fact,” Rose Marcario said in a LinkedIn post Wednesday. “Instead of putting the money back into our business, we’re responding by putting $10 million back into the planet. Our home planet needs it more than we do.”
“Taxes protect the most vulnerable in our society, our public lands and other life-giving resources,” she added. “In spite of this, the Trump administration initiated a corporate tax cut, threatening these services at the expense of our planet.”
The corporate gift comes amid dispute about a federal government report pointing to dangers of unaddressed climate change. The fourth U.S. National Climate Assessment, published this week, drew scorn from President Trump, who said he “didn’t believe it.” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the report, which was conducted by 13 federal agencies and more than 300 scientists, was “not based on facts.”
Marcario strongly disagrees.
“The most recent Climate Assessment report puts it in stark terms: the U.S. economy could lose hundreds of billions of dollars, and the climate crisis is already affecting all of us,” Marcario said. “Mega-fires. Toxic algae blooms. Deadly heat waves and deadly hurricanes. Far too many have suffered the consequences of global warming in recent months, and the political response has so far been woefully inadequate — and the denial is just evil.”
Patagonia’s $10 million donation will supplement the standard 1 percent of sales the company has given to environmental and preservation groups since 1985.
