Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has been accused of ‘greenwashing’ after pledging $10billion to help fight climate change, while his e-commerce company pumps out the carbon equivalent to some small countries.
The richest man in America yesterday unveiled the Bezos Earth Fund to be set up with his vast funds. Amazon paid federal income tax this year for the first time since 2016, shelling out $162 million, a mere 1.2 percent of its $13.9billion income for 2019.
Earlier this month Bezos spent more than that on a Beverly Hills mansion worth $165million.
‘Way to go Jeff Bezos. So how’s about those next-day deliveries? Packaging waste? Amazon working conditions? And that little thing called tax?’ Foreign affairs journalist Lynne O’Donnell tweeted.
Berkeley economics professor and former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich wrote: ‘Remember when Whole Foods (an Amazon subsidiary) announced it would be cutting benefits for its entire part-time workforce? Amazon’s annual savings from this cost-cutting ploy is what Jeff Bezos … makes in two hours.’
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has been slammed after pledging $10billion of his $130billion fortune to help fight climate change, while his e-commerce company pumps out carbon equivalent to some small countries
Berkeley economics professor and former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich wrote: ‘Remember when Whole Foods (an Amazon subsidiary) announced it would be cutting benefits for its entire part-time workforce? Amazon’s annual savings from this cost-cutting ploy is what Jeff Bezos … makes in two hours.’
Not only have people criticized Bezos for the taxes he pays, but many claimed that $10billion from his $130billion fortune was not nearly enough to offset the company’s massive carbon emissions.
Amazon said it emitted 44.4million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2018, which is more than some small countries.
Furthermore, critics questioned how the initiative would operate, it being privately funded, Bezos will be have full control and its activities will not necessarily be transparent.
In outlining his project Bezos only provided rudimentary details saying it ‘will fund scientists, activists, NGOs.’
Bestselling author Laura Lippman wrote: ‘I want to live in a country where we tax the f**k out of people like Jeff Bezos and spend his money to solve problems as we see fit.’
Announcing his Earth Fund, Bezos said: ‘I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change.’
Many commented on the hypocrisy from a man whose company makes its billions from packaging items with papers and plastics and delivers them by burning fossil fuels.
Broadcaster Greta Van Susteran wrote: ‘Jeff Bezos needs to reform his own company, Amazon! They ship tiny unbreakable items in huge boxes filled w/ bubble wrap….no reason to do that.’
But aside from these crude impacts, Amazon’s own business interests are being funneled towards oil and gas.
Amazon has landed lucrative deals with fossil fuel companies BP, Shell and Haliburton, to provide machine learning for better exploration and oilfield automation.
Others drew attention to the plight of Bezos’ workers around the world who have endured savage working conditions to meet cost-cutting retail demands.
‘This is greenwashing,’ one climate activist tweeted, ‘a PR diversion away from business as usual, and the destructive modus operandi that’s negatively impacting people, workers’ rights, health & the planet.’
Science writer Leonie Joubert said: ‘Don’t let this be a greenwash or reputation management. Amazon needs to pay for pollution it has already dumped into atmospheric landfill (while making staggering profits) and damage this ‘spill’ is causing: polluter pays principle applies to #Bezos #amazon too.’
Amazon workers in its Seattle headquarters have been vocal in criticizing some of the company’s practices, pushing it to do more to combat climate change.
More than 8,000 staffers had signed an open letter to Bezos demanding that Amazon cut its carbon emissions, end its use of fossil fuels and stop its work with oil companies that use Amazon’s technology to locate fossil fuel deposits.
Last year, Amazon officials said the company would work to have 100 percent of its energy use come from solar panels and other renewable energy by 2030.
Bezos said in September last year that Amazon would pledge to become carbon neutral by 2040 and said the company would order 100,000 electric delivery trucks.
He said Monday: ‘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 …
‘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.’
An Amazon spokesman confirmed that Bezos will be using his own money for the fund.
Bezos, the world’s richest man, said in an Instagram post that he’ll start giving grants this summer to scientists, activists and nonprofits working to protect the earth
Amazon workers in its Seattle headquarters have been vocal in criticizing some of the company’s practices, pushing it to do more to combat climate change
Amazon has been criticized for creating large amounts of waste from the packaging it delivers its products in
Amazon, the company Bezos runs, has an enormous carbon footprint. The online retailer relies on fossil fuels to power planes, trucks and vans in order to ship billions of items all around the world
Despite being among the richest people in the world, Bezos only recently became active in donating money to causes as other billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have done.
In 2018, Bezos started another fund, committing $2 billion of his own money to open preschools in low-income neighborhoods and give money to nonprofits that help homeless families.
Bezos, who founded Amazon 25 years ago, has a stake in the company that is worth more than $100 billion.
In response to his pledge, an advocacy group founded by Amazon workers – Amazon Employees For Climate Justice – applauding his philanthropy while also criticizing his climate change record.
‘The international scientific community is very clear: burning the oil in wells that oil companies already have developed means we can’t save our planet from climate catastrophe,’ a statement from the group read.
‘As history has taught us, true visionaries stand up against entrenched systems, often at great cost to themselves. We applaud Jeff Bezos’ philanthropy, but one hand cannot give what the other is taking away.
‘The people of Earth need to know: When is Amazon going to stop helping oil & gas companies ravage Earth with still more oil and gas wells? When is Amazon going to stop funding climate-denying think tanks like the Competitive Enterprise Institute and climate-delaying policy? When will Amazon take responsibility for the lungs of children near its warehouses by moving from diesel to all-electric trucking?
‘Why did Amazon threaten to fire employees who were sounding the alarm about Amazon’s role in the climate crisis and our oil and gas business? What this shows is that employees speaking out works- we need more of that right now.
‘Will Jeff Bezos show us true leadership or will he continue to be complicit in the acceleration of the climate crisis, while supposedly trying to help?’