Amazon is the next tech giant to face mounting calls to action from its employees. A total of 3,541 employees have published an open letter asking Jeff Bezos and other leaders to adopt a shareholder resolution and release a “company-wide” climate change plan meeting their terms.
Some are clarifications of existing initiatives, while others would require a significant shake-up in its existing strategy.
The workers called for a “complete” end to the use of fossil fuels, not just carbon offsets. Those still leave lasting effects, such as the diesel pollution from delivery vans.
The employees also demanded a halt to all solutions designed for the fossil fuel industry, such as the AWS for Oil & Gas initiative that drew criticism earlier in the week.
Further, the staffers wanted any goals to be consistent with the IPCC’s climate change report, with emissions cut in half by 2030 and reduced to zero by 2050.
Amazon would also be asked to press for environmentally friendly political policies and would have to treat staff fairly if climate change led to disruptions.
The letter argued that Amazon fell well short of those goals. It hadn’t set a timetable for reaching its goal of shifting completely to renewable energy.
The Shipment Zero plan, meanwhile, only committed to net carbon reductions and didn’t include plans to reduce overall emissions.
Workers also balked at Amazon donating to 68 members of Congress who’ve consistently voted against climate change legislation.
Amazon didn’t directly address the letter in a statement to the New York Times. Instead, it reiterated its existing promises, including Shipment Zero as well as plans to reveal its company-level carbon footprint and “related goals and programs” later in 2019.
It announced plans just this week for wind farms in Ireland, Sweden, and the US.
Read more at Engadget
A good company will always value input from workers, and seriously consider suggestions. Employees have no business to “demand” significant changes in how a company operates. The employees don’t run the company. How a company operates is exactly the job of upper management, Board of Directors, etc.
If they actually felt so strongly and weren’t such hypocrites wouldn’t they go work some place else that lines up with their religion .
This thing is a farce .
Who owns Amazon? You can bet that it isn’t the employees. Yet, they are making demands on how the company does business. This is a common trait of the environmental left, make demands on how others use their property. This includes the thermostat setting in homes, leaving cars at home, and even what we eat.
The article was inaccurately titled, it should have read, “A Tiny Fraction of Amazon Workers Demand Company-Wide Climate Change Plan That Bans Fossil Fuels.” The letter was signed by 3,541 employees, yet Amazon employs 613,300 as of 2018. Doing the math, 0.577% of the employees signed the letter. Again, this is typical of the environmental left. With the help of the news media they make it appear their minority view point is shared by everyone.
Another thing typical of the environmental left is demanding the impossible. There is no way the deliveries could be made without using fossil fuels. That would require an electric truck fleet, which for many reasons couldn’t be done.
Walking right into the mouth of the green dragon these foolish little sheep
Looks like Bezos hires Democrats, at least 3541 of them
Don’t those people realize that they’ll lose work and the parcels will get delivered by gas and diesel anyway?
I look forward to the day when my orders are delivered by a windmill powered or human powered Flinstone car. Yaba-daba-doo.
The ignorance is strong in these sheep! And yes, Walmart would be one company that would be thrilled as well as all the local grocery stores.
Amazon’s competitors are praying for this to succeed!
“Oh, please, oh, please, please please please…”
I suggest these idiots stop using all fossil fuel based products they would be totaly surprised when they find out how many everyday items in their homes isa product of the fossil fuel industry
The climate change virus has infected the Amazon job – killing money-maker. Win – win or lose – lose?