Amazon workers have mixed reactions to Bezos' carbon neutral promise

Almost 24 hours after Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced an ambitious plan to make its company "carbon neutral" by 2040, more than a thousand of its employees gathered outside tech giant's Seattle headquarters to insist that Amazon and its tech rivals need to do a lot more to tackle climate change.

Bezos' climate commitment "is just a beginning," Weston Fribley, an Amazon software engineer, told a multitude of technicians, most of them from Amazon, who had left the job. Friday morning as part of a worldwide "climate strike."

This "is about decency," added Google Engineer Sam Kern. "Taking responsibility for the problems we aggravate and taking ownership of the problems we have resources to help solve."

One of hundreds of "climate attacks" planned in cities around the world, Friday's technology worker rally on Amazon's Spheres first appeared as if it could be overshadowed by Bezo's announcement Thursday. Amazon CEO plans to cut the company's carbon "footprint" through measures such as investing in a massive fleet of electric delivery vehicles.

Climate Strikes Seattle organizers, though perhaps taken aback by Bezo's announcement, quickly adjusted the message for Friday's march to a mixture of praise and pressure.

There was praise for Amazon's willingness to address a question it has largely avoided for years, but also pressure for more concrete action ̵[ads1]1; and even bar criticism in areas where Amazon's climate promises worked

Protesters and organizers noted how The company, although Bezos promised to reduce its fossil fuel emissions by switching to electric delivery cars, is still interwoven with the carbon economy in other ways.

"Amazon continues to benefit from technology specifically designed to accelerate the detection, development and recovery of fossil fuels," said Frib ley, citing cloud computing services that Amazon Web Service sells to energy companies. Similarly, Amazon continues to fund lobbyists and politicians who deny climate reality. We still have work to do. ”

This blend of praise and pressure was repeated throughout Friday's technology rally, which organizers said attracted between 2,500 and 3,000.

Bezos' announcement "encouraged me to actually join the walkout because it really showed that when employees pressed on, it really changed," said an Amazon worker who, like most of his peers, refused to enter their name.

Another Amazon worker was excited to see that Amazon put its enormous problem-solving power to work on climate change. "We are one of the fastest technology companies – we can do much more than a government" to deal with emissions reduction, he said.

But other rallyers expressed skepticism about Amazon's recent move. Some said they felt the timing of Bezos 'announcement was clearly meant to undermine the protesting workers' message.

"I'm glad to hear that he's making these changes, but why now?" Said an Amazon worker who attended the convention with his partner and his infant daughter in a backpack.

His partner, who was not employed by Amazon, went ahead, arguing that Bezos might have started Thursday's initiative a long time ago. Bezos "had the power, he had the money, he had the investment – he could have announced this announcement last year," she said.

Other Amazon workers said that the company must demonstrate a commitment to climate policy to keep attracting and retaining top talent.

"Our generation knows what the future is going to be and where the jobs are going to be, so why should we join a company looking back?" said an Amazon worker in his 20s.

Rally speakers, most of the employees of local technology companies, also emphasized the sector's responsibility to solve problems that in many cases have deteriorated their own technologies and business strategies.

"We've moved really fast and we've destroyed so many things," said Kern, the Google worker. "Technology has been driven by the impetus to reshape and disrupt and so often in the name of our users. We pass signs in the hallways that tell us to focus on the user, put the user first. Putting the user first means doing everything we can to fight for their home, their families. "