04-23-2019
More than 5,000 Amazon employees want the company to create a plan that allows it to operate on 100% renewable energy. These employees also want the company to use its influence towards a broader effort to fight climate change; they are asking Amazon to stop donating to Congressional members who vote against legislation to curb carbon emissions and to stop doing work for the oil and gas industry.“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,” according to the published letter outlining the employees’ request. The movement to lessen Amazon’s climate impact began last fall when two dozen Amazon employees filed a climate petition as shareholders, having received their stock as compensation, to the board of directors. The proposal will be voted on at the next shareholder meeting. The media-released letter is an effort to place more pressure on the company, one of the most valuable in the U.S., to take more action.
Amazon relies on gas-guzzling trucks to deliver its packages while transportation has taken over power plants as the top producer of carbon dioxide emissions. The employees want Amazon to use renewable energy across the entire company and in the entire supply chain. Amazon has not directly responded to the letter, asserting only that it is undertaking an ambitious plan to address climate change. This plan, already known to the employees, seeks only to make “50% of all shipments net zero by 2030.” Amazon employees want the company to be much more ambitious.