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Amazon Luxembourg has responded to criticism from the 'Make Amazon Pay' demonstration, for which around 30 people gathered in the Grand Rue on Friday.
The demonstration, called by various groups such as ASTM, Greenpeace and déi Lénk, broadly criticised that Amazon was being given preferential treatment in many areas, including the environment and taxes.
A statement has since been sent out by an Amazon Luxembourg spokesperson, saying that the protesting group "is being intentionally misleading and continues to promote a false narrative", stating the company is the leading corporate buyer of renewable energy and is fully compliant with national tax laws.
Amazon Luxembourg's official response
Overarching statement:
This group is being intentionally misleading and continues to promote a false narrative. The fact is at Amazon we provide great pay, great benefits, and great opportunities—all from day one. We directly employ more than 1.5 million people around the world, and provide a modern, safe, and engaging workplace whether you work in an office or at one of our operations buildings.
On the allegations related to sustainability:
Amazon matched 100% of electricity used in its operations with renewable energy sources in 2023 and 2024, investing in more than 600 renewable energy projects worldwide and being named the top corporate purchaser of renewable energy globally since 2020.Amazon is consistently working to make its operations more energy efficient, including our data centers. AWS data centers are up to 4.1 times more energy efficient than on-premises facilities. When workloads are optimized on AWS, the associated carbon footprint can be reduced by up to 99% (Accenture research 2024).Additionally, AWS aims to be water positive by 2030, returning more water to communities than it uses in its direct operations.
On privacy:
At Amazon we work hard to earn customer trust, and customer privacy is a top priority. We’re proud to innovate and continually improve the services we offer customers. As we innovate, we work with regulators to ensure new services are fully understood and legally compliant.
On the allegations regarding tax:
Corporate tax is based on profits, not revenues, and last year our European Stores business posted a loss. We continued to invest heavily across the region, and have now invested more than €250 billion in Europe since 2010, including more than €180 billion in the EU. We pay corporate tax in countries across Europe amounting to hundreds of millions of euros, and we operate in full compliance with local tax laws everywhere.
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