Story updated with comment from Amazon.
Amazon and CEO Andy Jassy were the targets of a large graffiti message painted on Sixth Avenue outside the company’s Seattle headquarters on Thursday.
The stenciled message across two lanes of the street was addressed to Jassy and read, “AMAZON: PRIME POLLUTER. #DELIVER CHANGE.” It’s visible in photos posted online, some apparently taken from high above by drone or from Amazon’s Day One office tower, with the Spheres below.
The Seattle Department of Transportation confirmed to GeekWire that a crew from the agency was pressure washing the message off the street on Thursday afternoon. In a Reddit post, a Redditor said traffic on Sixth Avenue was reduced to one lane “with traffic cops and everything.”
The environmental activist group Stand.earth took credit for the message in a press release on Thursday, saying that it “quietly sent a clear message to CEO Andy Jassy last night in Seattle during the company’s ‘Prime Day’ campaign.”
The group targeted Amazon specifically for rolling back its Shipment Zero pledge in May. That initiative was Amazon’s commitment to make 50% of its shipments net-zero carbon by 2030. The company said at the time that it was being folded into the broader Climate Pledge, with a 2040 target date.
“It’s clear that Amazon is not a climate leader, but instead a Prime Polluter, so we’re ensuring the company’s decision-makers see our message right outside their front door,” Stand.earth Senior International Campaigner Victoria Leistman said in a statement. “It’s time for Mr. Jassy to deliver change and clean air, not more dirty truck pollution.”
Earlier Thursday, Amazon and Jassy touted the huge two-day Prime Day sales event, in which the e-commerce giant reported that July 11 was its largest sales day ever. The company said 375 million items were sold over the two days.
Stand.earth targets Amazon and other e-retailers over emissions produced by delivery vehicles. Last year during Prime Day, Stand.earth posted research about the amount of pollution generated by last-mile deliveries.
Amazon has faced calls from within its own ranks for bolder action on its climate initiatives. An employee walkout on May 31 was organized in part by Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, who called on Amazon to put climate “at the forefront” of Amazon’s decision-making, and described the company’s Climate Pledge as “broken, in so many ways.”
Amazon has vowed to reach carbon neutrality by 2040 and urged others to do the same through the Climate Pledge. The company is paying for wind and solar energy to help power its operations, is purchasing electric delivery vehicles and is investing in climate tech startups. Amazon’s carbon emissions, however, have increased every year since it began publicly sharing its carbon footprint, continually rising from 2019 to 2021.
Amazon last week reported that it now has more than 5,000 Rivian electric delivery vehicles on the road across more than 800 U.S. cities, up from 3,000 in March.
Update: Here’s a statement from Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser:
“We’ve already made significant progress on our path to decarbonizing our operations by 2040, and continue to prioritize investing and innovating in climate solutions across all areas of our business. That includes reaching 85% renewable energy across our entire operations, reducing excess packaging in our deliveries, and growing our transportation fleet with thousands of electric delivery vehicles all around the world—in fact, these vans were out on the road making Prime Day deliveries to customers in over 800 cities and regions across the U.S.”
