Over 3,500 Amazon staffers urge company to step up climate change fight
The employees want Amazon to stop selling cloud service to the oil and gas industry.
Amazon employees urge the company to take more aggressive actions on climate crisis.
Amazon employees want the company to put more effort into fighting climate change.
In an open letter to CEO Jeff Bezos and the company's board published Wednesday, 3,541 Amazon employees ask the e-commerce giant to take more aggressive actions on climate change.
"Amazon has the resources and scale to spark the world's imagination and redefine what is possible and necessary to address the climate crisis," reads the letter. "We believe this is a historic opportunity for Amazon to stand with employees and signal to the world that we're ready to be a climate leader."
The staff members included a to-do list for Amazon in the letter. They asked the company to make a corporation-wide plan to reach 100% renewable energy in a timely manner, to stop selling Amazon's cloud service to the oil and gas companies so they won't expand fossil fuel extraction, to stop donating to regulators who vote against climate legislation and more.
In response, an Amazon spokesperson said the company has launched several major and impactful programs and is "working hard to integrate this approach fully across Amazon."
"Our dedication to ensuring that our customers understand how we are addressing environmental issues has been unwavering -- we look forward to launching more work and sharing more this year," the spokesperson said in an email.
This isn't the first time Amazon employees voiced their concerns over the company's business conduct. Last June, the e-commerce giant's staff wrote to Bezos to stop selling facial recognition technology to US law enforcement. They feared how the company's Rekognition software would be used by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security in the current political climate.
"In our mission to become 'Earth's most customer-centric company,' we believe our climate impact must be a top consideration in everything we do," wrote the staff. "We have the power to shift entire industries, inspire global action on climate, and lead on the issue of our lifetimes."
Originally published April 10, 11:13 a.m. PT.
Update, 1:04 p.m. PT: Adds statement from Amazon spokesperson.