A number of large tech companies have ended support for conservative group the American Legislative Exchange Council over the group's stance on climate change.
Google, Facebook and Yelp are among the companies who have ended support for the group, which has written a number of measures attempting to roll back protections for the environment, civil rights and public health.
"We funded them as part of a political campaign for something unrelated," said Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman. "I think the consensus within [Google] was that was sort of a mistake and so we're trying to not do that in the future."
Measures against ALEC have so far largely been confined to progressive activists, who have been able to convince companies like Coca-Cola, General Motors and Kraft to leave the group. Microsoft also announced that it was leaving the group in August, however it did not disclose whether it was over environmental issues or not.
"Everyone understands climate change is occurring and the people who oppose it are really hurting our children and our grandchildren and making the world a much worse place," said Schmidt in an interview. "And so we should not be aligned with such people -- they're just, they're just literally lying."
Yelp, another company that has left the group, said that it allowed its membership to expire months ago. News also broke earlier this week that Facebook would not renew its membership when it expired in 2015 and Facebook confirmed this, saying that it would distance itself from the state-based public policy issues think tank that drafts model legislation.
"While we have tried to work within ALEC to bring that organization closer to our view on some key issues, it seems unlikely that we will make sufficient progress, so we are not likely to renew our membership in 2015," said Facebook in a statement.
Activists will reportedly attempt to convince eBay and AOL to leave the group next.
The move to distance itself from the organization seems like a logical choice for Google, which says on its website that it eventually aims to operate on 100 percent renewable energy.
ALEC has expressed regret over the tech companies ending their relationship with the group. However, others in the group have also expressed support for Google and others.
"It is unfortunate to learn Google has ended its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council as a result of public pressure from left-leaning individuals and organizations who intentionally confuse free market policy perspectives for climate change denial," said Lisa Nelson, chief executive of ALEC. "ALEC believes in freedom of speech and opinion. Google is an important voice on these and many other issues, and we will miss their perspective in our discussions."
