Amazon and Global Optimism announced The Climate Pledge, a commitment to meet the Paris Agreement 10 years early.
“We’re done being in the middle of the herd on this issue — we’ve decided to use our size and scale to make a difference,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO. “If a company with as much physical infrastructure as Amazon — which delivers more than 10 billion items a year — can meet the Paris Agreement 10 years early, then any company can. I’ve been talking with other CEOs of global companies, and I’m finding a lot of interest in joining the pledge. Large companies signing The Climate Pledge will send an important signal to the market that it’s time to invest in the products and services the signatories will need to meet their commitments.”
Amazon becomes the first signatory of this pledge. The Climate Pledge calls on signatories to be net zero carbon across their businesses by 2040 — a decade ahead of the Paris Accord’s goal of 2050.
“Bold steps by big companies will make a huge difference in the development of new technologies and industries to support a low carbon economy,” said Christiana Figueres, the U.N.’s former climate change chief and founding partner of Global Optimism. “With this step, Amazon also helps many other companies to accelerate their own decarbonization. If Amazon can set ambitious goals like this and make significant changes at their scale, we think many more companies should be able to do the same and will accept the challenge. We are excited to have others join.”
By joining The Climate Pledge and agreeing to decarbonize on a faster time horizon, signatories will play a critical role in stimulating investment in the development of low-carbon products and services that will be required to help companies meet the pledge.
Two years ago, Amazon made a long-term commitment to power its global infrastructure with 100 percent renewable energy. Amazon is now pledging to reach 80 percent renewable energy by 2024 and 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, on its path to net zero carbon by 2040. Major investments in renewable energy are a critical step to address its carbon footprint globally. To date, Amazon has launched 15 utility-scale wind and solar renewable energy projects that will generate over 1,300 megawatts of renewable capacity and deliver more than 3.8 million megawatt-hour of clean energy annually — enough to power 368,000 U.S. homes. Amazon has also installed more than 50 solar rooftops on fulfillment centers and sort centers around the globe that generate 98 megawatts of renewable capacity and deliver 130,000 MWh of clean energy annually.
Amazon is launching the Right Now Climate Fund, committing $100 million to restore and protect forests, wetlands and peatlands around the world in partnership with The Nature Conservancy. The Right Now Climate Fund will help remove millions of metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere over the lifetime of the project, and create economic opportunity for thousands of people.
