Closing Remarks: Press conference following Annual Shareholder Meeting

Thank you for sharing your stories. Climate change will leave no place and no life untouched. We invite everyone to share your own stories on social media using the #ClimateStory hashtag.

My name is Weston Fribley and I’ve been an engineer at Amazon for over four years.

Over the past six months, we’ve started a movement.

We filed our resolution in November, and since then we’ve won important changes. Amazon’s first commitment to carbon reduction in shipping. A promise to release our entire carbon footprint this year. A new imagination of what is possible when we, as employees, speak with a single voice.

And now seventy-six hundred of us and more say this together: we want to work for a company that is taking climate change seriously. We have one question, which we will ask again and again:

Why is Amazon still burning fossil fuel?

When smoke covers Seattle again this summer.
When fires destroy our data centers.
When storms shut down our warehouses.

Why is Amazon still burning fossil fuel?

When employees lose our houses to fire and flood.
When our customers are displaced from their homes, when their lives are threatened.
When a rapidly changing climate destroys crops, forces millions into poverty, and shocks the global economy.

Why is Amazon still burning fossil fuel?

The two largest proxy advisory firms in the US recommended in favor of our resolution. It is hard to understand why Jeff Bezos and the Board did not. Investors recognize the risk: being a carbon polluter is both morally and financially irresponsible.

Why is Amazon still burning fossil fuel?

The Jeff and the Board must take this risk seriously. We will file this resolution again next year. And we will announce further plans in the coming months. We — Amazon’s employees — have the talent, experience, and drive to remake entire industries with incredible speed. We’re ready to do this now.

So why is Amazon still burning fossil fuel?

We are proud of Amazon’s success, to which we’ve all contributed. We want to be proud of its values as well. Jeff and the Board can adopt this resolution at any time. The company can announce a plan to end our dependence on fossil fuel at any time.

We will continue to ask for Jeff’s leadership until Amazon is a zero carbon company.

I call on my co-workers: join your colleagues and sign the public letter. Tell your friends at work about it. Imagine how your team could help eliminate Amazon’s footprint if only carbon reduction were prioritized.

Ask yourself:

Why is Amazon still burning fossil fuel? When will it stop?

On that I can offer you an answer.

When all of us — you, your co-workers in Seattle, in Hyderabad, in Dublin, London, Luxembourg, and across the globe — say together: we will no longer be complicit in the climate crisis. We will lead the way to a zero carbon future. We must start now.

Thank you.

We’ll take questions if there are any. Otherwise we’ll stick around to answer any questions one-on-one.