From climate pledge to AI-driven solutions: A look at Amazon’s sustainability approach

In recent years, more and more companies across industries worldwide have become increasingly conscious of their impact on the environment, and Amazon is no exception to that.

While better known for its stronghold in the e-commerce space, the company’s reach has now extended well beyond online retail to encompass digital streaming, cloud computing, and even artificial intelligence.

As one of the world’s biggest global corporations, it’s no secret that Amazon leaves a considerable environmental footprint and an equally significant responsibility to take action against this.

Even Amazon’s CEO has recognized the scale of the challenge, noting that the company operates one of the world’s largest supply chains and generates annual emissions equivalent to those produced by the entire country of Morocco.

While the responsibility at hand is large, they are quick to act and have been taking matters into their own hands over the years.

Let’s take a deep dive into Amazon’s ongoing sustainability efforts and how they manage their corporate sustainability initiatives.

An overview of Amazon’s Climate Pledge and overall sustainability approach

In September 2019, Amazon introduced its ambitious Climate Pledge, committing to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040—a whole decade ahead of the Paris Agreement’s target date. In response to this, over 550 companies and counting around the world have joined the pledge in collective climate action, proving Amazon’s growing role in shaping the future of corporate responsibility. Some of these companies include global giants such as Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, Uber, and many more.

Since the implementation of the Climate Pledge six years ago, the company has made some notable progress over the years including reducing its carbon intensity by 13% since 2022 as well as cutting food waste across its European operations by 75% since 2021 

Following the launch of the Climate Pledge, it doesn’t stop there. In fact, Amazon’s work has only just begun. The corporation has continued its efforts to develop a sustainability strategy designed to reduce its environmental footprint while influencing broader industry practices, given its global reach.

This can be seen in their sustainability approach focusing on decarbonizing core operations, tackling logistics emissions, making packaging improvements, and driving industry-wide change.

1.  Decarbonizing core operations

Amazon’s plan to reach net-zero carbon by 2040 involves having a thorough decarbonization strategy in place, where the amount of carbon dioxide emitted is balanced by the amount removed from the atmosphere.

Some of the areas Amazon focuses on in their approach to decarbonization include increasing energy efficiency, transitioning to carbon-free energy, improving building efficiency through the use of lower carbon construction materials, utilizing lower carbon refrigerants, and reducing onsite water consumption and waste generation.

Its data centers and fulfillment facilities also use energy-saving systems, low-carbon building materials, and natural refrigerants, with AI tools further optimizing water and energy consumption.

2. Tackling logistic emissions

In an effort to balance rapid growth with sustainability, tackling emissions has also become a core focus for Amazon as part of their sustainability approach.

In partnership with Rivian, a leading American EV manufacturer, they have made the switch and expanded their fleet of electric delivery vehicles since 2021 with the aim of significantly cutting back on air transport, and lowering the overall miles traveled by its vans. While the use of Rivian electric vehicles are mostly available in the US, these vehicles are slowly being rolled out to the UK and the rest of Europe.

With the addition of eight distribution hubs in the United States, Amazon is now bringing products closer to customers,ultimately shortening delivery distances and reducing unnecessary transportation-related emissions.

3. Improving packaging

To date, e-commerce continues to make up the bulk of Amazon’s revenue, driven primarily by its online stores and third-party services.

Given the high volume of orders each day, sometimes reaching millions, the company relies heavily on packaging, which can generate a significant amount of waste. This highlighted the need for improved packaging solutions across its operations worldwide.

To address this problem, Amazon has focused on redesigning materials, utilizing machine learning to determine the optimal packaging size for specific orders, and minimizing overall excess. As a result,over two million tons of packaging material have been eliminated since 2015 ,based on the 2022 Amazon Sustainability Report.

4. Driving industry-wide change

Being a pioneer for industry-wide change has always been at the heart of Amazon’s sustainability strategy. It’s never just about what Amazon can do internally, but how it can use its position to influence other companies and organizations around the globe.

Through initiatives like The Climate Pledge, the company is encouraging suppliers, partners, as well as competitors to adopt more sustainable practices and commit to measurable and actionable climate goals.

Alongside this initiative, the Climate Pledge Fund has also invested in several companies specializing in developing solutions in energy storage, low-emission freight, green hydrogen, and sustainable construction, which are essential for decarbonizing high-emission sectors.

Some of these companies include 3D printing construction company 14Trees, circular manufacturing company Molg, and climate tech startup Paebbl, specialising in storing captured carbon dioxide into carbon-storing building materials as an alternative to traditional cement.

Most technology companies have made strides in renewable energy, and we reached that milestone in 2023, but if we want to achieve our collective goal, it doesn’t work if just one company gets there.” — Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon  

Harnessing AI for sustainability and facing Amazon’s ongoing challenges

In an attempt to make its operations more sustainable in the long run, Amazon is also increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing to facilitate this change.

Essentially, AI tools developed through AWS helps the company save energy in its data centers, optimize logistic routes, and even accurately predict consumer demand to prevent overproduction and unnecessary waste across its vast global network.

Yet despite these advances in technology, Amazon still faces many challenges to date, particularly as its overall carbon footprint remains considerably large.

The complexity and scale of its supply chain simply makes tracking emissions difficult, especially tracking Scope 3 emissions that are “indirect,value-chain greenhouse gas emissions from activities outside the company's operational boundary,” including the production of Amazon devices like Kindles, the packaging material used, and the energy used to produce its sold products, among many other factors.

What’s more, there have also been reports of employee welfare concerns and workplace conditions, highlighting how sustainability should go beyond environmental metrics to also include social and labour considerations.

While AI has been helpful in providing a myriad of innovative solutions to enhance Amazon’s sustainability efforts, this proves that even corporate giants like Amazon have a long way to go before it can become fully sustainable. More needs to be done.

Amazon’s global influence on corporate sustainability & why it matters

Through the years, it’s become clear that Amazon’s impact goes far beyond its own operations,influencing the way other companies shape their own measurable sustainability efforts and climate goals. To date, the Climate Pledge has garnered 584 signatories across 60 industries and 46 countries, representing 15.58 million employees worldwide.

They have created this undeniable multiplier effect, proving that people are watching and paying attention.

By leveraging its scale and international reach, Amazon effectively communicates and demonstrates that corporate sustainability is both a shared opportunity and responsibility. Its leadership sets a standard for current and future businesses worldwide to embrace environmental initiatives and foster a culture of sustainability.

Driving sustainability forward with Zuno Carbon

From reducing carbon intensity and overall food waste to leveraging AI for greener and more efficient operations, there’s no denying how Amazon has made significant strides in sustainability. But its ongoing journey also highlights the challenges of managing a supply chain of this scale. That said, accurate tracking of emissions is essential.

This is where Zuno Carbon comes in. With a robust carbon accounting and ESG management solution, companies are now able to measure emissions accurately, report ESG performance transparently, and identify opportunities to decarbonize their organization’s value chain, ultimately helping them take their first steps towards effective corporate sustainability.

Want to explore how Zuno Carbon can support your company’s ESG journey? Book a call with our team today.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1.  What is Amazon doing for sustainability?

From increasing renewable energy usage and scaling up sustainable packaging solutions, to reducing their carbon footprint and introducing electric vehicles into their operations, Amazon has been actively implementing initiatives across all aspects of its supply chain and operations over the years.

These efforts are reflected in their annual sustainability reports, which are publicly available, as well as in the Amazon Climate Pledge, launched in 2019.

2.  What is Amazon’s Climate Pledgeabout?

Co-founded with Global Optimism in 2019, Amazon’s Climate Pledge was launched in September that year, as a commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040.

With this public declaration, more than 550 companies worldwide have joined the pledge in collective climate action, supporting Amazon’s goal of encouraging more companies around the globe to take action and not only track their carbon emissions but also to proactively reduce them.

Some of the outcomes since the implementation of the Climate Pledge include Amazon investing in climate-focused startups to support developing technologies, expanding its fleet of EVs to drive down overall emissions, as well as investing in renewable energy, making them the world’s largest corporate renewable energy purchaser.