Climate Justice & Labor Rights

Abstract

Corporate Net Zero goals are built on speculative, and often empty, promises. Carbon offsets are a scam, another example of a technologically-driven solution to a social problem. Some technologists hope to use innovation to decarbonize the industry, as corporate responsibility staff, IT managers, and engineers attempt to measure, report, and reduce carbon emissions across the global supply chain. When it comes to high-energy workloads like machine learning, making emissions legible through telemetry is especially crucial. Carbon aware software helps AI developers understand the relationship between their workflows and the energy grid, letting them know if there is an optimal time of day to train their models depending on where they are situated. But, aside from the developer's relationship to time and place, power differentials also influence their decisions, as managers and C-suite members might have other priorities.

Aside from these more tech-driven attempts at mitigating climate change, rank-and-file tech workers are the ones pushing their employers to take on climate pledges and adhere to their climate goals. In some cases, including the recent demand for climate reparations at Amazon, workers are sparking discussions about social inequalities and climate justice, going beyond decarbonization to consider more holistic forms of sustainability. This essay draws on longer histories of grassroots organizing and environmental justice in the tech sector to delineate the tensions within and the more radical possibilities connected to the climate movement in tech.

Keywords: climate justice, labor rights, tech industry, organizing, net zero