Following a Tuesday partnership anouncement between Microsoft, Chevron and Schlumberger, an oilfield services firm, employees at Microsoft published a letter (on Github) forcing the tech giant to stop working with oil companies. "Microsoft makes millions of dollars in profits by helping fossil fuel companies extract more oil. As Microsoft workers, we've been made complicit."

The letter from Microsoft employees discusses not only these new contracts, but also Microsoft's partnership with Equinor last year. "It's no longer possible for us to ignore Microsoft's complicity in the climate crisis" is one of many strong sentences Microsoft workers posted days before the Global Climate Strike. As pointed out by The Verge, several employees from Microsoft, Amazon, and Google plan to participate in the strike.

This letter objective is to force the tech giant to end its contracts with fossil fuel companies, cut contributions to lobbyists/politicans who deny climate and to commit to zero emissions by 2030 - the year climate change is predicted to cause irreparable damage to the planet.

“In this week's company-wide all-hands, our CEO, Satya Nadella, defended our contracts with Big Oil by suggesting that our technology helps them in their R&D efforts to develop sustainable energy. Yet, this is in clear contradiction to the ambitions of fossil fuel-CEOs and even other Microsoft leaders.”

The letter calls for action, affirming that Microsoft has the technology and resources required to affect climate change.

"If we want to make real impact, all of us need to mobilize, work together, and demand a fundamental change in Microsoft's priorities. It's clear that the tech industry is one of the main culprits behind our burning planet, both in consuming a great deal of fossil fuels through power hungry datacenters and supporting Big Oil companies. But we also have to recognize that we're equipped with so many resources that we can leverage to steer our industry and government in the right direction."

An official response has not been released by Microsoft has until now.

Nuno Costa