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Contact: amazonemployeesclimatejustice@gmail.com

Thousands of Amazon Employees Sign Open Letter Asking for a Company-Wide Plan on Climate Change

Workers are asking for a plan that matches the scale and urgency of the climate crisis

(SEATTLE) – In less than 48 hours, more than 3,500 Amazon workers have signed on to an open letter pressuring the company to adopt the shareholder resolution that asks for a plan addressing climate change and an end to the company’s reliance on fossil fuels.

Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, a group that grew out of a shareholder resolution co-filed by 28 current and former employees in December, circulated and then published the letter, which they addressed to Jeff Bezos and Amazon’s Board of Directors.

The letter is in reaction to multiple meetings with Amazon leadership, in which employees asked for a company-wide climate plan and for the Board to support the resolution but received no agreement. Instead, the employees were informed that the Board will be printing a statement of opposition in the shareholder ballot that will be released in the coming days.

“Tech workers know the world is facing a climate emergency that is causing devastation to communities around the world, and vulnerable communities least responsible for the climate crisis are already paying the highest price,” said Emily Cunningham, a User Experience Designer who co-filed the resolution and signed the letter. “We have a responsibility, as one of the largest companies in the world, to account for the sizeable contributions we are making toward accelerating climate change.”

The letter asks Amazon to release a company-wide climate plan inline with these principles:

1. Public goals and timelines to reduce emissions that are consistent with science and the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.
2. A complete transition off of fossil fuels rather than relying on carbon offsets.
3. Prioritizing climate impacts in business decisions, including ending partnerships with fossil fuel companies that accelerate oil and gas exploration and extraction.
4. Reducing harm caused by Amazon operations to vulnerable communities first.
5. Advocacy for local, federal, and international policies to reduce carbon emissions and withholding support from policy makers who delay action on climate change.
6. Fair treatment of all employees during extreme weather events linked to climate change.

“This campaign started with a dozen workers coming together to take action on our climate crisis. Now we have thousands of employees from all over the world who are publicly asking for a company-wide plan that matches the scale and urgency of the problem,” said Rajit Iftikhar, a Software Engineer who signed the letter. “We’ve been blown away by the amount of support and passion there is for making Amazon a leader on climate justice.”

Since filing the shareholder resolution, employee support for climate action has grown quickly, and Amazon responded with a commitment for 50% of shipments to be net zero carbon in 2030, dubbed “Shipment Zero.” However, employees say Shipment Zero doesn’t go nearly far enough.

“Amazon’s Shipment Zero announcement is a first step, and it showed the positive impact that employee pressure can have,” said Maren Costa, a Principal User Experience Designer who co-filed the resolution and signed the letter. “We all—individuals, corporations, governments—simply need to do more. Amazon needs a company-wide plan that matches the scale and urgency of the climate crisis, and Shipment Zero is not nearly enough. That’s why we’re asking all Amazon workers to join us by signing our letter to Jeff Bezos and the Board.”

Central to the letter is a call to end the Amazon Web Services (AWS) initiative that is building custom solutions to help fossil fuel companies accelerate oil and gas discovery and extraction.

“Partnering with fossil fuel companies demonstrates that climate is not a priority for Amazon leadership,” said Jamie Kowalski, a Software Developer who co-filed the resolution and signed the letter. "The science is clear: we must keep fossil fuels in the ground to avert catastrophic warming. How can we say we care about the climate when we're accelerating extractive processes that deliberately ignore the reality of the threat we face?"

“I signed the open letter for my children and their generation,” said Elizabeth Whitmire, a Senior Technical Editor who co-filed the resolution and signed the letter. “If we don't tackle climate change decisively today, we are stealing their future. Being part of this movement with my coworkers and seeing the impact we’re already having gives me hope that working together we can leave the next generation the kind of world that we owe them."

The employees are continuing to gather signatures leading up to the shareholder meeting in May, hoping the groundswell of support will pressure the Board to adopt the resolution.

“Many of us work in tech because we want to have a positive impact on the world, which means the climate crisis has to be a top priority,” said Roshni Naidu, a Senior Technical Product Manager who co-filed the resolution and signed the letter. “By coming together, we want to shift one of the largest companies in the world on our contribution to climate change."