Google Employees Demand Plan Of Action On ‘Climate Crisis’

More than 1,100 Google employees have reportedly called on the Silicon Valley tech giant to release a plan to fix the “global climate crisis” which harms “marginalized people.”

The Hill reports that more than 1,100 Google employees have signed an open letter this week calling on the tech giant to address the “urgency of the global climate crisis and its disproportionate harm to marginalized people.”

In an open letter posted to Medium addressed to Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat, employees called on the company to commit to zero-emission by 2030 and to no longer enter into contracts that “enable or accelerate the extraction of fossil fuels.” The letter also requests that the Internet giant cease funding for any think tanks, lobbyists, or politicians that deny climate change.

The letter also requests that Google commit to zero collaboration with “entities enabling the incarceration, surveillance, displacement, or oppression of refugees or frontline communities.” The letter states: “Google is a global company with billions of users across the world, many of whom are already bearing the brunt of climate disaster. Google’s code of conduct requires respect for users and for opportunities. As Google workers, we are committed to putting our users first, and Google must do the same.”

A similar letter was shared by Microsoft employees in September, which stated that it was “no longer possible for us to ignore Microsoft’s complicity in the climate crisis.” The demands from Google employees are pretty much identical to the ones listed by Microsoft employees. The letter from Google employees specifically references efforts by Microsoft and Amazon employees to combat climate change.

Read full story here…

Open Letter On Climate Action at Google

We, the undersigned 1,137* Google workers, in accordance with the gravity and urgency of the global climate crisis and its disproportionate harm to marginalized people [1], call on Google to commit to and release a company-wide climate plan incorporating:

1. Zero emissions by 2030 [2].
2. Zero contracts to enable or accelerate the extraction of fossil fuels [3].
3. Zero funding for climate-denying or -delaying think tanks, lobbyists, and politicians [4].
4. Zero collaboration with entities enabling the incarceration, surveillance, displacement, or oppression of refugees or frontline communities [5].

These demands have been set by workers across the tech industry, including Amazon and Microsoft. As Amazon employees wrote in their open letter [6]:

Climate change is an existential threat. The 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report [7] predicts that a warming of 2° Celsius, which we’re currently on track to surpass, will threaten the lives of hundreds of millions of people and put thousands of species at risk of extinction. We’re already seeing devastating climate impacts: unprecedented flooding in India and Mozambique, dry water wells in Africa, coastal displacement in Asia, wildfires and floods in North America, and crop failure in Latin America. Vulnerable communities least responsible for the climate crisis are already paying the highest price.

Google is a global company with billions of users across the world, many of whom are already bearing the brunt of climate disaster [8]. Google’s code of conduct requires respect for users and for opportunities [9]. As Google workers, we are committed to putting our users first, and Google must do the same.

Sincerely,
Google workers

Read full letter here…