More than 1,000 Amazon employees around the world will walk out on Sept. 20 to demand that the trillion-dollar company must do more to address the current climate crisis.
In a letter published on Monday, Sept. 9, a group called Amazon Employees for Climate Change outlined three major changes they want to see from the company. They said that as "one of the largest and most powerful companies in the world," Amazon should be at the forefront of the fight against the looming threats of climate change.
Amazon Employees Call For Action Against Climate Change
The protesters have three demands: for the company to commit to zero emissions by 2030, to end awarding custom contracts to oil and gas companies, and to stop funding politicians and lobbyists who deny climate change.
These are huge demands, but the protesters are confident that these changes can be adopted by the company.
"Amazon has the resources and scale to spark the world's imagination and redefine what is possible and necessary to address the climate crisis," the letter reads. "Our walkout on September 20th demonstrates the commitment of Amazon employees and calls on leadership to join us in this commitment."
The walkout is part of the Global Climate Strike, an international effort that encourages students and employees to march into the streets to demand more aggressive action against climate change.
Amazon's Response To Walkout Protest
In a statement to CNN Business, Amazon said that the e-commerce company is already making efforts to minimize its environmental impact. The company cited a recently-launched program called Shipment Zero which aims to make all shipments net-zero carbon.
They hope that by 2030, half of all shipments will be net-zero. The company also said that its sustainable packaging programs have eliminated more than 244,000 tons of packaging materials and avoided the use of around 500 million shipping boxes.
In addition, Amazon argued that e-commerce and cloud computing emit less carbon to the atmosphere compared to their more traditional counterparts.
This is not the first time that Amazon and its employees clashed over the climate issue. In May, during an investors' meeting, 7,700 employees signed a letter demanding to know how the company plans to address climate change.
Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos at the time said that "it's hard to find an issue that is more important than climate change." He promised that initiatives to address the climate issue are "underway."
