Amazon Employees Pushing For Real Climate Action And . . . Well, Good Luck With That
EDIT
Amazon has made public gestures toward dealing with climate change. In 2014, the company announced it would power its data centers with renewable energy. Four years later, it rolled out another initiative, Shipment Zero, with the aim of slashing carbon emissions from shipments by 50% by 2030. But Amazon’s green credentials have come under fire in recent months. In April, Gizmodo reported that Amazon had begun marketing its cloud computing services to oil and gas giants like ExxonMobil and Chevron. Amazon touted its products at an oil and gas industry conference this year, and it posted ads targeting oil firms at the Houston airport.
Amazon isn’t alone in wooing oil majors: both Google and Microsoft are courting the same companies, competing to provide data services to the industry. But Amazon lags behind its peers in tackling climate change in its core operations. The company has consistently received a failing grade from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) for failing to disclose its emissions, while both Microsoft and Apple were recognized by CDP in 2018 for their efforts to tackle supply-chain emissions. (Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., has also received favorable grades). Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in March that the company would begin disclosing its emissions this year, though it will use its own framework instead of reporting through CDP.
And earlier this year, a Greenpeace report found that Amazon has largely abandoned its plans to run its power-hungry data centers with renewable energy. The company’s data centers in Virginia — where many of the country’s tech companies drive their internet traffic — still only get 12% of their power from renewables. And Amazon’s aggressive plans for expansion, Greenpeace warns, also come without any accompanying measures to commit to more clean energy. (Amazon called the Greenpeace report “inaccurate” in statements provided to press.)
Previously, “[Amazon was] quite dismissive of renewables, but after hearing from customers and having crap answers for a really long time, they finally made a commitment,” Gary Cook, a senior corporate campaigner at Greenpeace, told Gizmodo. “So in 2016, they started signing some pretty big contracts for solar and wind. Then they kind of stopped. 2017 was the last time they brought a major project online. Their growth was outstripping their supply of renewables then, in 2017, and since then, they’ve just stopped and growth has continued apace.”
EDIT
https://thinkprogress.org/the-climate-rebellion-inside-amazon-26a8a9285026/
