More than 1,000 Googlers signed a letter demanding the search giant cuts ties with climate change deniers
- Google employees published an open letter with more than 1,000 signatories on Monday demanding the company take a stronger line on climate change.
- The letter made four demands: Zero emissions by 2030; cut ties with the fossil fuel industry; stop funding climate denying lobbyists and politicians; and have no relationship with organizations involved in oppressing "refugees or frontline communities."
- While Google likes to tout its green initiatives, it has also donated to multiple think tanks and lobbying groups that push back against climate change legislation, and Gizmodo reported early this year on its aggressive push into big oil.
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More than 1,000 Google employees published an open letter to chief financial officer Ruth Porat on Monday demanding the company take action on climate change.
The Googlers are not alone in publicly putting pressure on upper management to take action on climate change. Amazon employees staged a walkout in September, as did Microsoft employees.
The signatories issued Google with four demands:
- Zero emissions by 2030.
- Zero contracts to enable or accelerate the extraction of fossil fuels.
- Zero funding for climate-denying or -delaying think tanks, lobbyists, and politicians.
- Zero collaboration with entities enabling the incarceration, surveillance, displacement, or oppression of refugees or frontline communities
Google is outwardly vocal about its green initiatives, and in September announced its "biggest renewable energy purchase ever." That same month CEO Sundar Pichai also told the Financial Times the 2030 zero emissions goal "doesn't seem unreasonable," although he didn't publicly commit to it.
The other demands may meet more resistance from Google.
The Guardian reported in October that Google's has funded multiple lobbying groups and think tanks that actively push back against climate change legislation, including the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) whose director Myron Ebell was reportedly a key player in convincing President Trump to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord.
When asked by Business Insider about why Google, which advocates for climate change action, funds these organizations a spokesman said at the time: "Google's sponsorship doesn't mean that we endorse that organization's entire agenda - we may disagree strongly on some issues."
The signatories also cited a Gizmodo report from February of this year also delved into the extent to which Google and Microsoft are courting big oil.
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