It is undeniable that right now we
are still losing our battle against the irrevocable effects of climate change.
We are pumping 43 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year,
wildfires are spreading, countries are not in track to meeting their climate
goals from the Paris Agreement (an agreement that was not harsh enough to begin
with), and time is running out.
We are at a point where radical and
ambitious changes are our only option. Changes in our way of living, buying,
travelling, but most importantly, changes in the way companies and businesses
operate. While the market of sustainable products is rapidly increasing, we
need direct and big scale changes at an industry and production level, rather
than just consumer level.
One company that has started
proposing some of these “big scale changes” is Amazon. Over the past few years
the company has implemented a number of different proposals that could change
every aspect of the way it currently operates.
One initiative is called The Climate
Pledge, which Amazon co-founded along with Global Optimism in September of
2019. This pledge is meant to put more
responsibility on businesses when it comes to their contribution to the climate
change crisis. And over twelve other companies have joined in on the pledge
since it was first founded.
According to the official website
“the Climate Pledge was founded on the conviction that global businesses are
responsible, accountable, and able to act on the climate crisis, and that doing
so would transform societies and what’s possible with collective action.” It is
a relatively ambitious plan, especially considering that all signatories commit
to achieving net zero annual carbon emissions by 2040.
But there is a difference between
having goals and achieving them. It has been almost a year since Amazon
released its new plans on the climate crisis, so the question is, how much has
Amazon accomplished since?
According
to its website, this is the list of commitments Amazon has made thus far:
●
Net Zero Carbon by 2040
○
Deploying technology and people to
reach net zero carbon across Amazon by 2040, one decade ahead of the Paris
Agreement
●
Shipment Zero
○
Making all Amazon shipments net-zero
carbon through Shipment Zero, with 50% of all shipments net zero carbon by
2030.
●
Climate Pledge Fund
○
Investing $2 billion to support the
development of technologies and services that reduce carbon emissions and help
preserve the natural world.
●
Right Now Climate Fund
○
Investing $100 million in reforestation
projects and climate mitigation solutions.
●
Electric Delivery Vehicles
●
100% Renewable Energy by 2025
Is
Amazon on track to accomplish these goals?
Being carbon-free by 2040 means that
Amazon will have to look for ways to renovate its entire production chain. From
the way in which products are manufactured, all the way to how those products
reach the hands of the consumers.
Let’s start with the ‘Climate Pledge
Friendly’ badge, for example, which was introduced in October of this year in
some European countries. This filter places a badge on products that have a
lower environmental footprint, and it is meant to make it easier for consumers
to spot sustainable products. In addition to the filter, Amazon has also
committed to promoting these types of products on its website in all related
search results.
In its pledge to investing money in
different foundations and projects fighting against the effects of climate
change, Amazon has formed a partnership with the Nature Conservancy, an
environmental organization in Virginia, to work on different Natural Climate
Solutions. Along with funding NCS, Amazon has also started to invest in
projects such as the Family Forest Carbon Program, the Urban Greening for
Climate Resilience, and the Forest Carbon Co-Ops. Some of these programs are
the first of their kind and will hopefully help promote biodiversity and
implement new forest conservation methods and forest management.
At the same time, Amazon has also
launched a series of projects to lower its own carbon emissions by turning to
renewable energy. According to its website as of June Amazon has built “31
utility-scale wind and solar renewable energy projects, along with 60 solar
rooftops on fulfillment centers around the world.” While also purchasing
100,000 electric vehicles from Rivian, the biggest order of electric vehicles
so far. These vehicles are expected to be implemented at the beginning of 2021
and will supposedly cut down Amazon’s metric tons of carbons by millions every
year.
That said, this is still not enough.
Amazon’s emission of carbon still increased by 15% in the year 2019, and it
will probably take a really long time before any of these plans have enough of
a positive effect for it to be significant. And while the actions Amazon is
taking to reduce its carbon footprint are cutting-edge, this article is in no
way meant to glorify Amazon or any of the companies taking part in the Climate
Pledge. We should not praise companies and industries for taking responsibility
for issues that they contribute to, because that is just the bare minimum.
Resources:
●
https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/natural-climate-solutions/
●
https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/environment/sustainable-operations/carbon-footprint
●
https://www.theclimatepledge.com/carbon-elimination.html
●
https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/about/the-climate-pledge#section-nav-id-2