<p>Amazon Chief Executive Officer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/hundreds-of-amazon-employees-criticize-firms-climate-stance-276875">Jeff&nbsp;Bezos</a>&nbsp;will commit $10 billion to fund scientists, activists, nonprofits and other groups fighting to protect the environment and counter the effects of <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/hundreds-of-amazon-employees-criticize-firms-climate-stance-276875">climate change</a>, he said on Monday.</p>

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<p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B8rWKFnnQ5c/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">Today, I’m thrilled to announce I am launching the Bezos Earth Fund.⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet. I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change on this planet we all share. This global initiative will fund scientists, activists, NGOs — any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world. We can save Earth. It’s going to take collective action from big companies, small companies, nation states, global organizations, and individuals. ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ I’m committing $10 billion to start and will begin issuing grants this summer. Earth is the one thing we all have in common — let’s protect it, together.⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ - Jeff</a></p>

<p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jeffbezos/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> Jeff Bezos</a> (@jeffbezos) on <time datetime="2020-02-17T18:00:51+00:00" style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;">Feb 17, 2020 at 10:00am PST</time></p>
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<p>The&nbsp;Bezos&nbsp;Earth Fund will begin issuing grants this summer as part of the initiative.</p>

<p>"It's going to take collective action from big companies, small companies, nation states, global organizations, and individuals,"&nbsp;Bezos&nbsp;said.</p>

<p>Cutting emissions will be challenging for Amazon. The e-commerce company delivers 10 billion items a year, has a massive transportation and data center footprint, and has faced criticism from within its own workforce.</p>

<p><strong>Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/hundreds-of-amazon-employees-criticize-firms-climate-stance-276875">Hundreds of Amazon employees criticize firm's climate stance</a></strong></p>

<p>Counteracting <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/hundreds-of-amazon-employees-criticize-firms-climate-stance-276875">climate change</a> has become a popular cause for US&nbsp;billionaires in recent years, with Microsoft's Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg and hedge fund manager Tom Steyer counted among the world's wealthiest environmental philanthropists. ⁣⁣⁣</p>

<p>Last year,&nbsp;Bezos&nbsp;pledged to make online retailer <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/hundreds-of-amazon-employees-criticize-firms-climate-stance-276875">Amazon </a>net carbon neutral by 2040 the first major corporation to announce such a goal and to buy 100,000 electric delivery vehicles from US&nbsp;vehicle design and manufacturing startup Rivian Automotive LLC.</p>

<p>Bezos&nbsp;also said at the time that his company would meet the goals of the Paris climate accord 10 years ahead of the accord's schedule and invest $100 million to restore forests and wetlands.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/amazons-slow-climate-action-defying-company-policy-over-300-employees-speak-out-277288">Amazon </a>has faced protests by environmental activists and pressure from its employees to take action on <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/amazons-slow-climate-action-defying-company-policy-over-300-employees-speak-out-277288">climate change</a>.</p>

<p><strong>Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/amazons-slow-climate-action-defying-company-policy-over-300-employees-speak-out-277288">Amazon's slow climate action: Defying company policy, over 300 employees speak out</a></strong></p>

<p>Hundreds of its&nbsp;employees last month started a blog criticizing the online retail giant's climate policies and demanding it do more to tackle climate change.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/amazons-slow-climate-action-defying-company-policy-over-300-employees-speak-out-277288">Amazon </a>has been accused of creating vast amounts of waste from the packaging it uses for doorstep deliveries, as well as for the greenhouse gas emissions from huge fleets of vehicles.</p>

<p>The company, which in December said its workforce had hit 750,000, has also been denounced over its carbon footprint because of the high energy consumption of its server farms for its lucrative cloud computing activities.</p>

<p>Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, an activist workers group, welcomed the&nbsp;Bezos&nbsp;Earth Fund announcement, but said it did not make up for the company's consumption of fossil fuels and other activities that contribute to climate change.</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">As employees, here is our statement to Jeff Bezos' Earth Fund announcement (as an image): <a href="https://t.co/opgcCpa67D">pic.twitter.com/opgcCpa67D</a></p>
— Amazon Employees For Climate Justice (@AMZNforClimate) <a href="https://twitter.com/AMZNforClimate/status/1229507159894810624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos will commit $10 billion to fund scientists, activists, nonprofits and other groups fighting to protect the environment and counter the effects of climate change, he said on Monday.

Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos will commit $10 billion to fund scientists, activists, nonprofits and other groups fighting to protect the environment and counter the effects of climate change, he said on Monday. View this post on Instagram Today, I’m thrilled to announce I am launching the Bezos Earth Fund.⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet. I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change on this planet we all share. This global initiative will fund scientists, activists, NGOs — any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world. We can save Earth. It’s going to take collective action from big companies, small companies, nation states, global organizations, and individuals. ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ I’m committing $10 billion to start and will begin issuing grants this summer. Earth is the one thing we all have in common — let’s protect it, together.⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ - Jeff A post shared by Jeff Bezos (@jeffbezos) on Feb 17, 2020 at 10:00am PST × The Bezos Earth Fund will begin issuing grants this summer as part of the initiative. "It's going to take collective action from big companies, small companies, nation states, global organizations, and individuals," Bezos said. Cutting emissions will be challenging for Amazon. The e-commerce company delivers 10 billion items a year, has a massive transportation and data center footprint, and has faced criticism from within its own workforce. Also read: Hundreds of Amazon employees criticize firm's climate stance Counteracting climate change has become a popular cause for US billionaires in recent years, with Microsoft's Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg and hedge fund manager Tom Steyer counted among the world's wealthiest environmental philanthropists. ⁣⁣⁣ Last year, Bezos pledged to make online retailer Amazon net carbon neutral by 2040 the first major corporation to announce such a goal and to buy 100,000 electric delivery vehicles from US vehicle design and manufacturing startup Rivian Automotive LLC. Bezos also said at the time that his company would meet the goals of the Paris climate accord 10 years ahead of the accord's schedule and invest $100 million to restore forests and wetlands. Amazon has faced protests by environmental activists and pressure from its employees to take action on climate change. Also read: Amazon's slow climate action: Defying company policy, over 300 employees speak out Hundreds of its employees last month started a blog criticizing the online retail giant's climate policies and demanding it do more to tackle climate change. Amazon has been accused of creating vast amounts of waste from the packaging it uses for doorstep deliveries, as well as for the greenhouse gas emissions from huge fleets of vehicles. The company, which in December said its workforce had hit 750,000, has also been denounced over its carbon footprint because of the high energy consumption of its server farms for its lucrative cloud computing activities. Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, an activist workers group, welcomed the Bezos Earth Fund announcement, but said it did not make up for the company's consumption of fossil fuels and other activities that contribute to climate change. As employees, here is our statement to Jeff Bezos' Earth Fund announcement (as an image): pic.twitter.com/opgcCpa67D — Amazon Employees For Climate Justice (@AMZNforClimate) February 17, 2020 ×

Jeff Bezos pledges $10 billion to combat climate change

<p>Hundreds of <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/angry-saudis-tweet-to-boycott-amazon-over-crown-princes-alleged-involvement-in-hacking-bezos-phone-276374">Amazon</a> employees Sunday openly criticized the online retail giant's environmental record, in violation of the company's communications policy.</p>

<p>More than 300 signed a Medium blog post by Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ), which is pushing the company to go further in its <a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/india-ranks-ninth-on-climate-change-performance-index-267757">climate change</a> mitigation plan which was announced with great publicity in September.</p>

<p>Group members have publicly criticized the company, and some have been warned that they could be fired.</p>

<p><strong>Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/fix-climate-crisis-earth-is-all-weve-got-physics-nobel-prize-winner-266851">Fix climate crisis, Earth is all we've got</a></strong></p>

<p>"The protest is the largest action by employees since Amazon began threatening to fire workers for speaking out about Amazon's role in the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/climate-crisis-to-be-part-of-school-education-in-new-zealand-273868">climate crisis</a>," the AECJ said.</p>

<p>"As Amazon workers, we are responsible for not only the success of the company, but its impact as well. It's our moral responsibility to speak up, and the changes to the communications policy are censoring us from exercising that responsibility," said Sarah Tracy, a software development engineer at Amazon.</p>

<p><strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/opinions/bearing-brunt-of-climate-change-240729">Bearing brunt of climate change</a></strong></p>

<p>It is common for companies to demand restraint from employees when it comes to publicly discussing the firm's activities and even more so when openly questioning them.</p>

<p>Amazon had nearly 650,000 permanent employees at the end of 2018, according to the company's annual report.</p>

<p>While the environment and climate change was the focus of many of the posts on Sunday, Amazon was also criticized for other activities such as providing artificial intelligence capabilities to companies in the oil sector.</p>

<p>Amazon is often criticized over its carbon footprint because of the high energy consumption of its huge server farms for its lucrative cloud computing activities.</p>

<p>And it has built its success on the back of a huge road transport logistics network to ensure speedy deliveries, which generates a lot of greenhouse gases, the main culprit of climate change.</p>

<p>Amazon founder <a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/un-expert-calls-for-detailed-probe-into-hacking-of-jeff-bezoss-phone-276042">Jeff Bezos</a> on September 19 last year made public environmental commitments, promising in particular that the firm would be carbon neutral by 2040.</p>

<p><strong>Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-takes-a-dig-at-mark-zuckerberg-calls-making-of-facebook-childs-play-274396">Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos takes a dig at Mark Zuckerberg</a></strong></p>

<p>The AECJ said this was insufficient and Amazon should be aiming for a 2030 target.</p>

<p>"This is not the time for silencing voices. We need policies that welcome more open discourse, more problem-solving, and more urgent and concerted action about climate change and its causes," said Mark Hiew, a senior marketing manager at Amazon.</p>

<p>Amazon did not respond to an AFP request for a response but an article in the Bezos-owned <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/washington-post-publishes-jamal-khashoggis-last-piece-172051">Washington Post</a> quoted spokesman Drew Herdener as saying Amazon encouraged employees to express themselves, but internally through the various platforms available to them.</p>


Hundreds of Amazon employees Sunday openly criticized the online retail giant's environmental record, in violation of the company's communications policy. More than 300 signed a Medium blog post by Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ), which is pushing the company to go further in its climate change mitigation plan which was announced with great publicity in September.

Hundreds of Amazon employees Sunday openly criticized the online retail giant's environmental record, in violation of the company's communications policy. More than 300 signed a Medium blog post by Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ), which is pushing the company to go further in its climate change mitigation plan which was announced with great publicity in September. Group members have publicly criticized the company, and some have been warned that they could be fired. Also read: Fix climate crisis, Earth is all we've got "The protest is the largest action by employees since Amazon began threatening to fire workers for speaking out about Amazon's role in the climate crisis," the AECJ said. "As Amazon workers, we are responsible for not only the success of the company, but its impact as well. It's our moral responsibility to speak up, and the changes to the communications policy are censoring us from exercising that responsibility," said Sarah Tracy, a software development engineer at Amazon. Also read: Bearing brunt of climate change It is common for companies to demand restraint from employees when it comes to publicly discussing the firm's activities and even more so when openly questioning them. Amazon had nearly 650,000 permanent employees at the end of 2018, according to the company's annual report. While the environment and climate change was the focus of many of the posts on Sunday, Amazon was also criticized for other activities such as providing artificial intelligence capabilities to companies in the oil sector. Amazon is often criticized over its carbon footprint because of the high energy consumption of its huge server farms for its lucrative cloud computing activities. And it has built its success on the back of a huge road transport logistics network to ensure speedy deliveries, which generates a lot of greenhouse gases, the main culprit of climate change. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on September 19 last year made public environmental commitments, promising in particular that the firm would be carbon neutral by 2040. Also read: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos takes a dig at Mark Zuckerberg The AECJ said this was insufficient and Amazon should be aiming for a 2030 target. "This is not the time for silencing voices. We need policies that welcome more open discourse, more problem-solving, and more urgent and concerted action about climate change and its causes," said Mark Hiew, a senior marketing manager at Amazon. Amazon did not respond to an AFP request for a response but an article in the Bezos-owned Washington Post quoted spokesman Drew Herdener as saying Amazon encouraged employees to express themselves, but internally through the various platforms available to them.

Hundreds of Amazon employees criticize firm's climate stance

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Jeff Bezos pledges $10 billion to combat climate change

Hundreds of Amazon employees criticize firm's climate stance