In response to the creation of the Bezos Earth Fund, Greenpeace USA Senior Campaigner Elizabeth Jardim says:
“The Bezos Earth Fund is a welcome recognition of the serious threat of climate change. However, we have major concerns and questions based on Amazon’s environmental track record.
“It’s hypocritical to announce that climate change is the biggest threat to our planet while at the same time boosting the fossil fuel industry by providing advanced computing technologies to the oil and gas industry so that it can discover and drill more oil, more efficiently. Amazon also still has work to do to ensure its growing network of data centers fully shifts away from fossil fuels, and the company must transparently report its energy use as Google and Apple do.
“Amazon cannot be a climate champion and help the oil and gas industry drill for more oil, more efficiently. Amazon cannot claim to take the climate crisis seriously, and then threaten to fire employees who speak out on climate. Amazon cannot move climate solutions forward while simultaneously contributing to climate denying think tanks and climate delaying politicians.
“The science is clear. We need to keep fossil fuels in the ground, scale up renewables, and elect politicians who support strong climate policies to have a livable planet. We eagerly await details about the type of projects and innovation Bezos’ Fund will support.
“We hope that Amazon, Google, and Microsoft act boldly and take immediate steps to stop accelerating the climate crisis by ending contracts with the oil and gas industry.”
