Seattle, Washington — After it was revealed that a Canadian energy company he had financially supported had planned large staff layoffs, Jeff Bezos, the billionaire creator of Amazon and one of the most powerful businessmen in the world, is coming under increasing criticism. As part of a larger cost-cutting effort, Alta North Energy Corp., a Calgary-based corporation, said last week that it will lay off almost 1,200 workers, or about 30% of its staff.
In 2023, Bezos revealed his interest in Alta North Energy Corp. through his private venture vehicle, Bezos Expeditions, in regulatory filings. During a Series D fundraising round, the firm invested an estimated Dollar 300 million CAD (about 225 million USD at the time) in Alta North with the goal of advancing the company’s growth into sustainable oil extraction techniques and carbon capture technology. Even though Bezos had previously focused on e-commerce and space development, the decision was praised at the time as part of his growing commitment to greener energy alternatives.
The company’s decision to start mass layoffs, which included engineers, field technicians, and corporate employees, over two years later, has raised questions about how private investors affect working conditions at energy companies that operate in unstable commodities markets.
“Hard but necessary decisions,” the CEO states.
Danielle Fournier, CEO of Alta North, announced the layoffs on April 29 and blamed them on the company’s carbon capture pilot plants’ slower-than-expected returns, rising project expenses, and consistently low oil and gas prices. Fournier underlined that the decision, despite its difficulty, was required to “protect the long-term viability” of the firm during a news conference held at its Calgary headquarters.
“To adjust to a changing economic and regulatory environment, we have had to make difficult but essential decisions,” Fournier stated. “While delivering responsible energy solutions is still at the forefront of our long-term vision, we must streamline our operations in the face of immediate pressures.”
She said that early this year, the reorganization plan was unanimously agreed by the company’s executive team, which includes Bezos Expeditions representatives.
Fournier stated, “Our board and investors, including Mr. Bezos’ team, are in agreement that a more streamlined and flexible workforce is essential to surviving the upcoming years.”
Bezos’ role is being scrutinized.
Bezos has not made any public remarks on the latest layoffs, but his position as a well-known investor in Alta North is now receiving more attention, especially from environmentalists and labor activists. Critics contend that the corporation failed to protect the livelihoods of its employees during difficult financial times, despite promoting its clean-tech goals to draw moral investment money.
According to Rachel Choudhury, a senior analyst at the International Labor Futures Institute, Jeff Bezos has made it clear that he supports both innovation and ethical business practices. “However, his support of Alta North, which is currently eliminating over a thousand jobs, raises serious concerns about whether profit motives are once again taking precedence over human needs.”
According to internal documents released to The Globe and Mail earlier this year, Bezos Expeditions’ investment thesis in Alta North placed a strong emphasis on “disruptive energy solutions with scalable profitability”—a paradigm that some labor economists view as supporting aggressive cost-cutting.
Bezos Expeditions representatives declined to comment on the layoffs and sent any questions to Alta North’s corporate relations department.
A more general trend in the energy markets
The Alta North debate occurs during a period of extreme unpredictability in the global energy industry. Crude oil prices peaked in 2022 and 2023, but since then, the market has cooled as a result of weak global demand, growing use of renewable energy, and decarbonization-friendly governmental changes. Despite these challenges, many Canadian oil and gas companies have found it difficult to stay profitable, particularly those involved in Alberta’s oil sands.
Even while some Canadian oil businesses recorded record profits during the commodities boom, the industry as a whole lost nearly 15,000 jobs over the last 18 months, according to statistics from Energy Canada. Alta North’s situation, according to analysts, is indicative of a well-known trend in which businesses overexpand during optimistic cycles and make sharp cuts when things go south.
Alta North fell into a trap that is all too typical, according to Maya Leduc, a University of Calgary energy policy expert. “They’re pulling back hard after overcommitting to capital-intensive initiatives like carbon capture, which have yet to provide large-scale benefits. Regretfully, employees are the ones who must deal with these adjustments the most.
Bezos’s aspirations for sustainable energy
The reason for Jeff Bezos’ entry into the Canadian energy market is his larger climate philanthropic endeavors, which he started after leaving his position as CEO of Amazon in 2021. He has committed to funding environmental justice initiatives and climate change mitigation solutions throughout the world through his Dollar 10 billion Bezos Earth Fund.
Bezos praised Alta North’s unique direct air capture (DAC) devices and bio-based solvents as “game-changers” in a 2023 interview with Bloomberg Green, calling the company “a promising example of how traditional energy companies can evolve into cleaner, more responsible players.”
One of the biggest of its sort in North America at the time, Alta North promised that their pilot DAC project in Grande Prairie, Alberta, could potentially sequester over 2 million metric tons of CO₂ yearly. Independent audits, however, ultimately revealed that the plant’s capture rates were far lower than anticipated, which fueled investor apprehension and led to the reorganization.
Employees voice their opinions
The suddenness of the layoffs and the impact they have had on their communities have prompted former Alta North employees to speak out.
Lucas Matthison, a field engineer fired from the company’s Fort McMurray operations center, described the situation as “devastating.” Last year, we were informed that we were at the forefront of the energy industry’s development. However, after two weeks of severance, we were forced to go. For these employment, several of us relocated our families here.
Alta North is under pressure from the Canadian Union of Energy Workers (CUEW), which represents some of its technical staff, to expand severance benefits and offer retraining materials to displaced workers.
“With the support of leaders like Bezos, Alta North made ambitious promises about green jobs and economic revitalization,” stated Hannah Ip, president of CUEW. In the name of shareholder profits, they are now ignoring their employees. It’s not acceptable.
Consequences for politics
Policymakers in Canada have also taken notice of the cutbacks. Rachel Notley, the premier of Alberta, blasted the business for what she called “short-sighted management” and promised to collaborate with government representatives to assist impacted employees.
In a statement, Notley stated, “I expect better from companies that receive backing from global figures like Jeff Bezos.” “Billionaires must invest in our people if they wish to fund our province’s energy industry.”
Marc Gagnon, Canada’s federal minister of natural resources, reiterated those remarks, stating that the federal government is looking into possibilities for employment transfer and targeted aid programs in impacted areas.
The path ahead
The future of Alta North is still unclear. Despite the company’s insistence that it is dedicated to its decarbonization initiatives, analysts caution that its goals may be constrained by its lowered staff and weakened investor confidence.
Regarding Jeff Bezos, the episode highlights the difficult balancing act that prominent investors must perform in order to achieve both financial gains and environmental objectives while managing the human cost of industrial transformations.
It is unclear whether Bezos would address the situation in public or change his energy-related investment plans.
A Difficult Legacy
The GreenNorth scandal is just one more chapter in Bezos’ complicated public persona. The second-richest man in the world is praised as a visionary and decried as a representation of corporate greed and excessive wealth.
Although his investment in GreenNorth is part of a broader plan to influence the energy industry going forward, it also runs the danger of confirming long-standing complaints that the billionaire’s business endeavors frequently disregard workers in the sake of innovation.
It remains to be seen if GreenNorth’s green pivot is successful in the end and if its displaced employees find new employment. For the time being, the agreement serves as a sobering reminder that even well-meaning changes have actual human consequences.
According to a laid-off employee: “They discuss preserving the environment. What about rescuing the populace?
