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Extinction Rebellion protesters blockade Amazon’s Avonmouth warehouse
Protesters were out at the crack of dawn on Friday to stage a demonstration outside Amazon’s Avonmouth warehouse.
The Extinction Rebellion (XR) activists arrived at around 4am and “locked on” to bamboo towers and scaffolding structures, blocking two access roads to the site on what would be the busiest day of the year for the global retail giant.
The aim of the protest – that has seen Amazon centres targeted across Europe – is to disrupt Black Friday operations and force the company to change its “highly climate-destructive corporate practices”.
is needed now More than ever
Amazon’s carbon emissions increased by 19 per cent in 2020, a time when levels across the world decreased due to the pandemic.
A spokesperson for the retail giant has said the company takes its responsibilities seriously and pledged to be a net zero carbon emitter by 2040. But campaigners say there is no evidence as to how that goal will be achieved and the pledge fails to include Amazon’s supply chain, which accounts for up to 75 per cent of its emissions.
Extinction Rebellion rebel elder activist Gaie Delap, 74, from Montpelier, says: “International businesses of this scale cannot be allowed to be laws unto themselves. Their leaders bear the same responsibility as national governments.
“We all understand that this kind of super-consumption is unnecessary and destructive. And a growing number of businesses are distancing themselves from Black Friday, a day that will contribute to a surge in vehicle and carbon emissions.
“Two weeks after the end of COP26 it is truly shocking that Amazon is actively promoting Black Friday. This is a US ‘shopping holiday’ which Amazon itself introduced into the UK in 2010.
“We will not achieve the radical reductions in carbon emissions that COP26 clearly showed are necessary by just continuing ‘business as usual’. If we want to save the Amazon rainforest, we have to target mega-retailer Amazon.”
An ITV investigation earlier this year revealed that Amazon routinely destroys millions of items of unsold stock every year, products that are often new and unused.
In 2020, hundreds of Amazon employees defied corporate policy to publicly criticise the company for failing to meet its “moral responsibility” in the climate crisis.
Responding to the protest, an Amazon spokesperson said: “At Amazon, we take our responsibilities very seriously.
“We know there is always more to do, and we’ll continue to invent and invest on behalf of our employees, customers, small businesses and communities in the UK. We’re proud to have invested £32bn in the UK since 2010, creating 10,000 new permanent jobs across the country this year alone, and generating a total UK tax contribution of £1.55bn in 2020.”
Main photo by Alex Street/ Extinction Rebellion
Read more: Extinction Rebellion campaigners protest proposed expansion of Bristol Airport
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