Also: Inflation shock, CIA surveillance, and Starship prepares for orbit.
Good morning.
I spoke yesterday with Cummins CEO Tom Linebarger, who is one of a growing number of CEOs who have moved to the vanguard of efforts to combat climate change. He went to the White House last month to argue that the portions of President Biden’s Build Back Better Act that address climate be enacted into law.
For Cummins, which makes engines, it’s also a business imperative. The company is investing heavily in developing hydrogen fuel cell technology, even though Linebarger believes the market place for that technology is still a decade or so away from being competitive without subsidies or regulation.
“Hydrogen as a fuel has moved from a super cool idea to the development stage. We are running trains in Europe with hydrogen fuel cell engines,” he told me. “We would love to get the cost down, as would our customers. We don’t need invention, but we do need development and refinement. The cost is not viable without subsidy or regulation today.”
Linebarger says he has no doubt hydrogen will be an important part of our energy future. But how quickly we can get there, he said, depends on public policy, which is why he advocates a carbon tax, or some kind of clear price on carbon.
I asked Linebarger why other business leaders haven’t been as aggressive as he has in pushing for government action on climate. “I think some are scared they are going to throw out the baby with the bathwater,” he said. “They are worried we’ll forget that capitalism is the biggest wealth generator in the history of mankind.”
But Cummins made a decision to support President Biden’s Build Back Better Act in its entirety, “despite some unattractive tax elements, because climate is existential.”
More news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
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Inflation shock
Stocks and crypto (and gold) plunged yesterday after January's consumer price index showed inflation in the U.S. was, at 7.5%, worse than it's been for the last four decades. The markets now seem to expect the Fed to take emergency action. Fortune
CIA surveillance
The CIA has been carrying out a mass surveillance program within the U.S., with some Americans' data being caught up. The revelation, which came at the prompting of Senators Ron Wyden and Martin Heinrich, could seriously undermine the U.S.'s efforts to protect Big Tech's ability to keep serving users in Europe. Fortune
Orbital Starship
Elon Musk says SpaceX's Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, could undertake its first orbital flight within the next couple months. This vehicle is the basis for Musk's lunar and Martian plans. Fortune
AirTag privacy
After several people reported that Apple's AirTag tracking devices were being used to stalk them, the company will start warning iPhone users setting up the tags that the device is not supposed to be used for stalking. It's also working on a new feature that will help iPhone users find AirTags that may be used to track them without their consent. Fortune
CEOs eye 2022 with optimism and a dash of uncertainty In the latest Fortune/Deloitte CEO Survey, fielded in January, 175 leading CEOs representing more than 15 industries share their perspective on what is both hopeful and uncertain about the next 12 months—covering growth rates to inflation rates, supply chain challenges to talent challenges, and more. Explore its findings
Binance and Forbes
Binance, the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, has invested $200 million in Forbes, making it the outlet's second-biggest shareholder. Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao: "As Web3 and blockchain technologies move forward and the crypto market comes of age we know that media is an essential element to build widespread consumer understanding and education." Fortune
NFT significance
Non-fungible tokens have a combined value of $16 billion or so, meaning they account for less than one percent of the total digital asset pile. Fortune
Chinese tourists
Asian tourist hotspots are racing to allow visitors back in, but they have a problem: Chinese tourists can't come without quarantining for two weeks on their return, because of their country's refusal to abandon its COVID-zero strategy. Fortune
Pay more
Comcast exec Steve White has some advice about how to withstand the "Great Resignation", or "Great Reset" as he calls it: pay people better. "A lot of companies are making dramatic changes to how they pay employees because they weren’t being properly compensated," he told Fortune's Jane Thier. Fortune
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.
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