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A week after Elon Musk completed his acquisition of the social media giant Twitter, the Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX CEO came under fire after he reportedly started laying off nearly half of Twitter’s 7,500 employees.
Musk’s detractors, who worry the platform may become overrun with bigots and bad-faith actors, criticized the CEO well before he acquired the platform. The magnate has drawn controversy for various actions ranging from his polarizing tweets to reopening a Tesla factory in violation of public health mandates.
Still, others admire his business achievements. For instance, Musk recently garnered praise from Fred Krupp, the CEO of the Environmental Defense Fund, an environmental advocacy nonprofit.
“He’s a visionary,” Krupp asserted on a recent episode of Influencers with Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer. “And I think it’s impossible not to give him credit for demonstrating the fact that electric vehicles can be extremely desirable, again, forgetting about the environmental or climate benefits.”
With a market cap of roughly $655 billion, Tesla is the world’s most valuable car company. Besides being among the first companies to popularize electric vehicles, Tesla has also changed the auto business more broadly. For instance, Tesla was the first company to offer direct-to-customer sales, an idea adopted by companies like Rivian and most recently BMW. The EV maker was also the first to allow customers to order their cars online.
“You know, he caused a revolution in the auto industry,” Krupp stated. “There’s no two ways about it.”
Krupp knows Musk not only as an admirer but a collaborator in the fight against climate change. Musk’s space company, SpaceX is playing a key role in the MethaneSAT mission operated by the New Zealand Space Agency and the Environmental Defense Fund.
In 2023, SpaceX will launch the MethaneSAT satellite with a Falcon 9 rocket. Once in the earth’s orbit, the satellite will relay greenhouse gas emissions data to the public, allowing them to monitor global methane production in particular.
“One satellite will be able to look at every major oil and gas installation around the globe, multiple times a week,” Krupp explained. “And so it will give us real-time information that we’re going to make available for free.”
Researchers have found that methane represents a serious threat to the environment. The chemical compound is 25 times more potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. It also accounts for roughly 20% of global emissions, which cause climate change.
The oil and gas industry drives the majority of methane emissions, generating 80 million tons of methane every year. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, tracking the industry’s emissions usually takes weeks. But once the MethaneSAT reaches orbit, the process will take just days.
“I think that sort of transparency and accountability represents the best of the Environmental Defense Fund working with companies where we’re cooperative,” Krupp remarked. “We’re trying to inspire them to do better, but we’re also holding them accountable for results.”
The Environmental Defense Fund, which was founded in 1967, has 1,000 staff members in 19 countries. Fred Krupp has been the president of the nonprofit since 1984. He holds a Bachelor’s degree and Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan.
Dylan Croll is a reporter and researcher at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @CrollonPatrol.
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