1000 Google Workers Ask Company To Stop Funding Climate Denial

Google employees send an open letter pleading that the company commits to zero emissions by 2030, among other measures to help fight against climate change.

The letter is addressed to Ruth Porat, the chief financial officer of the company, and was signed by over 1000 Google workers. The initiative is still open for any Google employees to join the cause.

In addition to reaching zero emissions by 2030, Google workers urge the company to have zero contracts that “enable or accelerate the extraction of fossil fuels”. The open letter also mentions the search giant stops funding climate-denying or -delaying think tanks, lobbyists, and politicians.

Another demand in the letter states that the company ends collaboration with entities enabling the incarceration, surveillance, displacement, or oppression of refugees or frontline communities.

Google has yet to give an official response. The open letter comes a month after the Guardian published an article stating the search giant has made “substantial” contributions to some of the “most notorious climate deniers” in Washington DC.

This is not the first time Google employees come together to protest against some of the companies decisions. They have arranged corporate protests against the company’s work in China, contracts with the Pentagon, and the treatment of temporary workers and contractors.

Last year more than 20,000 Google workers around the world walked out of their offices to protest payouts to executives accused of sexual assault and misconduct.
Other workers in the tech industry have joined the cause, employees of Amazon and Microsoft also addressed open letters to their employers stating “climate change is an existential threat”.