Amazon has just become the corporate world’s blueprint for reaching renewable energy goals in a record time.
This has been hailed as a historic moment for the retailer giant, which achieved its own sustainability goals seven years earlier than expected. It even beat Google.
How? Buying more solar and wind power than any other company worldwide for four years. Billions of dollars have been invested into these projects. Amazon owns more than 500 solar and wind projects, enough to energize more than 7.6 million US homes.
This milestone coincided with its release of the sustainability report for 2023.
Amazon’s sustainability pledge
Each year, Amazon releases a sustainability report showcasing its progress. This year, it “matched 100% of the electricity consumed across our global operations with renewable energy sources.”
It’s also made progress on decarbonizing its transportation and delivery fleet. There are now 24,000 electric vehicles on the road worldwide.
In 2019, Amazon set a goal to replace all the electricity its global operations consumed with 100% renewable energy by 2030, seven years earlier than anticipated.
“To get there, we’ve become the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in the world for four years running.”
The road ahead
The world’s top companies have committed to a Climate Pledge of net-zero carbon by 2040. Amazon says it remains “committed” to following through on this pledge; however, it acknowledges that it has a tough journey ahead.
“The path is changing in ways that no one quite anticipated even just a few years ago – driven largely by the increasing demand for generative AI,” says the corporation.
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Technology has influenced this plan, which now “requires different energy sources than we originally projected.”
However, Amazon will continue to “invest heavily” into renewable energy while exploring “new carbon-free energy sources.”
Photo credit: Amazon
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Mia is a multi-award-winning journalist. She has more than 14 years of experience in mainstream media. She's covered many historic moments that happened in Africa and internationally. She has a strong focus on human interest stories, to bring her readers and viewers closer to the topics at hand.
