At the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has announced The Climate Pledge with a commitment to achieving 100% renewable energy by 2030 and net-zero carbon by 2040.
The pledge calls for fulfilling the Paris Agreement by 2040, 10 years earlier of the Paris Accord’s goal of 2050. Amazon is the first signatory of The Climate Pledge.
“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,” added Bezos. “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.”
“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, former UN 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.”
Said to be the largest order ever of electric delivery vehicles, Amazon states that the Rivian vans will reduce 4 million metric tons of carbon per year by 2030.
Additionally, an investment of $100 million is being made to preserve, protect and restore environments in partnership with The Nature Conservancy.
“The science is clear: healthy forests, grasslands, and wetlands are some of the most effective tools we have to address climate change—but we must act now to take natural climate solutions to scale,” said Sally Jewell, interim CEO, The Nature Conservancy. “Amazon is recognized as an innovator that drives real change. A commitment of this size is an exciting opportunity, with the potential to drive transformational change. We applaud Amazon’s Climate Pledge and their aggressive ambition to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040 and look forward to our high-impact collaboration.”
