Climate protesters block Amazon’s Seattle HQ to oppose fossil fuel plans

A few dozen climate protesters blocked entrances to Amazon headquarters in Seattle for over an hour Wednesday, chanting “No fracking gas!” as they draped banners and stood across the doorways. They called on company leaders to do more to meet Amazon’s carbon emissions targets. But regular employees denied entrance to their offices were not amused by the tactic.

Protest organizers are part of a new organization called Troublemakers and said they’re trying to send a message to Amazon leadership. The group defines its focus as non-violent civil disobedience intended to raise awareness about the perils of climate change. Specifically, protesters pressed Amazon to abandon plans to use natural gas from a regional pipeline project recently approved by federal regulators — TC Energy’s Gas Transmission Northwest Xpress pipeline expansion.

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Amazon is planning to use the pipeline bringing natural gas from Canada to power its new data centers in Oregon.

“They use a huge amount of power, these data centers, huge amount, so that power needs to be from renewable energy," Troublemakers’ Margo Polley said.

In a statement, Amazon spokesperson Lisa Levandowski responded, noting that the company already embraces renewable energy and other tactics to combat climate change.

“Amazon is the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy globally, and that’s been the case for four years in a row.” Levandowski said. “We’re deploying the world’s largest fleet of electric vehicles with more than 10,000 on the road today.”

Amazon employees confronted with the blocked doorways, some of them with dogs in tow and carrying the company’s trademark free bananas, ranged in reaction from silent and annoyed, to enraged and vocal.

An employee from Costa Rica, a country which runs almost entirely on renewable energy, said he supports the cause of reducing fossil fuels, but not the protesters’ tactics.

“This is just impacting Amazon employees. What can we do?” he asked.

At one point the doors were breached and a swarm of employees pushed around the protesters, trying to rush inside. A protester who gave her name as Hogan called out, “Amazon has committed to our climate, and this is the opposite of committing to our climate! Be respectful of our planet!” to which an employee shouted back, “You’re not being respectful of us!”

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Hogan said later that the anger from employees felt visceral. “We are so caught up in our daily activities that we can’t imagine being late for something,” she said, her voice breaking. “I don’t know what it’s going to take. We’ve already seen what climate change can do and what it’s doing.”

Eliza Pan is a former Amazon employee who spoke on behalf of the group Amazon Employees for Climate Justice. She said the group wasn’t involved in planning the protest, “but our folks understand why these protesters felt compelled to act. Amazon’s backtracking on climate with this decision is so embarrassing and so disingenuous.”

She pointed to press coverage that Amazon helped quash a bill in Oregon that aimed to curb the carbon emissions from data centers. In 2019, Amazon set a deadline of 2040 to reach net-zero carbon emissions, the company’s “Climate Pledge.” But since that pledge, the company documented a nearly 40% increase in emissions by 2021. Emissions then declined slightly in the company’s 2022 report, by .4%.

Here is Amazon’s full statement in response to the protests in its entirety:

“Amazon is the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy globally, and that’s been the case for four years in a row. Amazon also co-founded the Climate Pledge, committing to reaching net zero carbon by 2040, and has made incredible progress on its path so far—we match more than 90% of the electricity our operations use with renewable energy, and we’re deploying the world’s largest fleet of electric vehicles with more than 10,000 on the road today. Those are just a couple examples of how Amazon is working hard and investing to decarbonize its operations and become a more sustainable company.”