Mike Schroepfer, chief technology officer of Facebook Inc., listens during the Wall Street Journal Tech Live global technology conference in Laguna Beach, California, U.S., on Monday, October 21, 2019. The event brings together brings together investors, founders and executives. drive innovation and drive growth in the technology industry.
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MetaMike Schroepfer’s former chief technology officer will dedicate his time to fighting climate change.
In September, Schroepfer announced he would be stepping down from his role in favor of a part-time position, to be replaced by CTO by Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, Facebook’s head of hardware. Facebook changed the company name to Meta last fall.
On Thursday, Schroepfer announced with a Twitter post that he has “formally transitioned” from Meta’s CTO to a Senior Fellow role, where he will continue to mentor projects, most specifically related to artificial intelligence.
Schroepfer wrote on Twitter: “Outside of Meta, I will be devoting more of my resources to research on the climate crisis, as an early-stage climate technology investor, and by increasing double philanthropic work to promote early-stage scientific research”.
For example, Schroepfer pointed to a research project How the oceans could be used to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere on a large scale.
“There are few places where technology can play a bigger role in creating a better future,” Schroepfer said on Twitter.
When Schroepfer announced via a Facebook post that he was stepping down as CTO of Meta, he made no mention of his intention to move towards climate change.
Another prominent Meta exec – Chris Cox, the social media company’s chief product officer, who left the company in 2019 and later was brought back when Facebook was in turmoil — also worked on climate change issues while he was outside of Zuckerberg’s office.
Cox used to be a consultant for Planet, a San Francisco company that takes satellite images of the earth once a day, and he worked with Watershed, another San Francisco startup that built software that could used by businesses trying to make their operations zero carbon.
