Amazon and our Climate Pledge partners are making important progress on the path to achieving net-zero carbon by 2040—10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement. We know we can’t do this alone and believe that the public and private sectors must act together to tackle the scale of the climate challenge. We were encouraged by President Biden’s Leaders Summit on Climate, which brought together 40 global leaders last week to commit to stronger climate actions and accelerate progress. The U.S. announced new national emission reduction goals at the summit to help drive climate action by the public and private sectors.
Public policy is a key lever for climate progress, and Amazon has a strong record of supporting policies that advance climate solutions at all levels.
- We know that fighting climate change is good for the economy, and we recently joined corporate leaders in calling for swift action by the new administration and Congress to address climate change, transition to 100% clean energy, and drive job creation.
- We advocate for policies in many states—including Virginia, Ohio, Florida, and Georgia—to increase access to renewable electricity and other technologies, like battery storage, that support the integration of renewables into the grid. One great example of how this can benefit communities is our work in Virginia, where we established a partnership with the City of Arlington to jointly procure electricity from a new solar project in Pittsylvania County to power HQ2 with 100% renewables.
- We supported the passage of a low-carbon fuel standard that passed this weekend in our home state of Washington. This policy will increase the use of low-carbon transportation fuels and accelerate the transition to lower carbon vehicles and fuels for consumers and companies.
- We actively support efforts to enable the development of lower cost renewable energy for consumers and to advance open and transparent energy markets. As a result of this progress, Amazon is now the largest corporate buyer of renewables in the world.
- We support innovative electric vehicle charging programs in California to jump-start national progress in fleet electrification, and we launched the Corporate Electric Vehicle Alliance with other fleet operators to provide policy recommendations for this acceleration.
- We support federal legislation that helps clean energy projects access new sources of low-cost financing and speed deployment across the country.
Looking forward, we are already working with the Biden administration and Congress to advance policies that will drive innovation and job creation and help ensure a sustainable and equitable economic recovery. Our near-term climate policy priorities are outlined below:
Decarbonize the U.S. transportation system
Transportation is the largest direct source of emissions in the U.S., with almost a quarter of that total generated by medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. We support policies that increase the availability and adoption of zero-emission medium and heavy-duty fleet vehicles, as well as accelerate their interconnection to the electric grid. We also support policy efforts to tackle aviation emissions by increasing the availability of sustainable aviation fuel. We urge increased federal investments in research and development to accelerate new decarbonizing technologies such as advanced batteries and zero-carbon fuels like hydrogen.
What we’re doing: Deploying 100,000 electric delivery vans over the next decade and purchasing six million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel.
Expand and increase access to renewable energy
In order to achieve a 100% clean power sector as soon as possible, federal and state governments should align and update policies that improve the availability of—and access to—renewable resources nationwide. We support policy efforts to ensure a robust supply of affordable renewable power and improved energy markets to allow consumers to access these resources directly. We also encourage U.S. leadership to share best practices globally to stimulate and grow renewable power markets around the world.
What we’re doing: Investing in 206 renewable energy projects globally to become the largest corporate renewables purchaser, on a path to powering our facilities with 100% renewable energy by 2025, five years ahead of our original target of 2030.
Accelerate technology innovation for climate solutions
In order to accelerate the pace and scale of technology innovation to help companies meet their climate goals, we support increased federal research and development investments in zero- and negative-carbon technologies. We urge national governments to collaboratively pursue global advances at scale and enable technology access and deployment around the world. The private sector is a critical partner in these efforts, and we believe there are valuable opportunities for public-private collaboration to accelerate progress.
What we’re doing: Investing at least $2 billion, through the Climate Pledge Fund, in innovative companies and technologies that are creating climate solutions and making climate data and tools available through the Amazon Sustainability Data Initiative.
Pursue preservation of our natural environments
Natural climate solutions create real and lasting carbon reductions while also empowering communities, enhancing natural environments, and protecting wildlife. We support policy efforts that enable carbon reductions in forestry and agriculture and create new opportunities for job creation and investment in rural communities around the country. We also encourage U.S. engagement with global leaders to accelerate strategies to reduce deforestation trends globally and enhance the credibility of these solutions.
What we’re doing: Investing $100 million through the Right Now Climate Fund to restore and conserve forests, wetlands, and grasslands around the world and participating in the LEAF Coalition to mobilize at least $1 billion in financing to protect tropical forests.
Enable consumer access to information on low-carbon energy, products, and materials
Consumers should know how much of the electricity they buy comes from clean sources and be able to compare that data across geographies. We support policies that enable all customers to access and understand information on the renewable content of their electricity. We look forward to working with the Biden administration to implement legislation passed in 2020 that encourages the federal government to be a centralized resource for this renewable energy data. Similarly, we support increased disclosure of the carbon content of building materials to enable emissions reductions from the built environment.
What we’re doing: Transitioning our buildings to be net-zero carbon and helping customers discover sustainable products through the Climate Pledge Friendly program.
There is much work ahead of us, and we are committed to supporting climate policy progress. We also look forward to collaborating with government partners to put the U.S. and the global community on a path to decarbonize across industries, reduce the most devastating effects of climate change, and drive innovation and job creation around the world.
