By Russell Gold
Investors and customers aren't the only ones pressuring big
companies to address climate change -- employees are joining in
too.
From Walmart Inc. to Microsoft Corp., many large companies say
that concrete commitments to curb greenhouse-gas emissions and buy
green power are becoming important to recruiting and retaining
workers, especially younger ones.
The issue is especially pronounced in the tech industry, where
competition for skilled workers is fierce, and some employees have
turned to activism to prod their employers into action.
At Amazon.com Inc., a group called Amazon Employees for Climate
Justice wrote an open letter last year, urging the company to
commit to a deadline to secure 100% of its electricity from
renewable sources. Signed by several thousand employees, the letter
also called out the e-commerce giant for ordering 20,000
diesel-engine vans.
A few months later, Amazon committed to 100% renewables by 2030
and made the largest-ever order for electric delivery vehicles.
Amazon said the plan "had been in the works for many years and was
not a result of criticism."
Microsoft and Alphabet Inc.'s Google have both made climate
pledges in recent months, after employees organized and began
asking for more action.
"Employees are flexing their muscle and companies are smart
enough to realize that as society changes towards fighting climate
change, to be on the right side of that challenge is good for
business," said Matt Rogers, co-founder of Nest, the maker of
smart-home devices that is now part of Google. He has since left
the company.
The climate demands are part of a sea change hitting the
corporate world as increasingly vocal workers demand that companies
and chief executives take positions on important social and
political issues.
"Gone are the days where you can just go work somewhere and make
good money and that is all you care about," said Jason Wingard,
dean of the school of professional studies at Columbia University.
"When we have our career week and we engage with employers on
campus, one of the first questions students ask is: 'What do you
stand for?'"
Four in five companies expect an increase in employee activism,
with climate concerns as a top trigger, according to a recent
survey of 375 global executives by law firm Herbert Smith Freehills
LLP.
"We see a lot more employees using the workplace as a forum to
raise social issues," said London-based partner Silke Goldberg.
"They are trying to call out their employers and hold them to
account for their values."
Nate Hurst, HP Inc.'s chief sustainability officer, said climate
issues are central to making the 50,000 workers at the printer and
computer company feel like they are part of something bigger and
positive.
"One of the best ways to land top recruits and keep existing
staff motivated and engaged is to help them understand how their
careers and contributions are critical to HP's sustainability
efforts," Mr. Hurst said.
Before a global-climate strike last September, HP sent a memo to
its workers, letting them know it would be fine to attend. "You
have the support of our leadership team if you choose to lend your
time and voice to this important cause," the memo said.
HP has committed to reduce its direct emissions by 25% by 2025
and use 40% renewable electricity by this year.
Walmart recently broke ground on a new headquarters complex with
more than 20 buildings in Bentonville, Ark., that it hopes will
appeal to climate-conscious workers. It will feature solar panels
on parking decks, natural lighting through large windows and
timber-framed buildings, a method of construction that uses fewer
fossil fuels.
"We are going to create a campus where associates want to be and
where we can attract the next generation of top talent," said
spokeswoman Anne Hatfield. A top consideration, she said, was
climate-friendly buildings.
Companies aren't always able to appease environmentally minded
workers. Amazon Employees for Climate Justice recently said it
would continue pressuring the company to take more action.
"As Amazon workers, we are responsible for not only the success
of the company, but its impact as well. It's our moral
responsibility to speak up," said Sarah Tracy, an Amazon
software-development engineer.
Amazon spokeswoman Jaci Anderson said it was a violation of
policy for employees to speak out against the company. Amazon "will
not allow employees to publicly disparage or misrepresent the
company or the hard work of their colleagues who are developing
solutions to these hard problems," she said.
U.S. businesses, led by the tech industry, have been aggressive
in recent years in buying electricity from wind and solar farms.
Last year, companies signed deals for a record 9.3 gigawatts of
renewable energy, according to the Renewable Energy Buyers
Alliance, roughly half of average demand on the New York state
power grid.
The largest purchaser, for the second straight year, was
Facebook Inc. Amazon, Microsoft and Google were all in the top
seven.
Those kinds of commitments matter to incoming recruits such as
Amanda Willis, a 29-year-old masters of business administration
student at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.
For her, sustainability action tops salary and location as criteria
for choosing an employer this spring.
"My goal is to work somewhere where I agree with their values,"
she said.
Write to Russell Gold at russell.gold@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 16, 2020 09:14 ET (14:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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