Amazon’s $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund, known for its early investments in companies like Rivian and BETA Technologies, is now accelerating efforts to decarbonize global operations through green hydrogen.
The Climate Pledge Fund announced new investments in Electric Hydrogen and Sunfire, two of the most promising U.S. and European-based developers of electrolyzers, a key technology that makes emissions-free green hydrogen using water and renewable electricity.
Sunfire electrolyzers enable the transformation of energy-intensive sectors such as the chemical, fuel, and steel industries.Photo by Sunfire
“To curb the climate crisis, we need to continually develop innovative solutions that can scale, whether it’s through the electrification of electric vehicles, investments in nature-based solutions, a decarbonized electric grid, or increased production of green hydrogen,” said Kara Hurst, vice president of Worldwide Sustainability. “We are proud to be investing in visionary companies like Electric Hydrogen and Sunfire that are developing vital technology for the deployment of green hydrogen to help decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors.”
Electrification and battery solutions alone cannot close the emissions gap to net-zero carbon. Hydrogen, when produced with renewable electricity, is a promising pathway for decarbonizing industries not as amenable to electrification, like aviation, steel production, heavy-duty trucking, and cargo shipping. However, not all hydrogen is created equal. Over 95% of hydrogen today is made from fossil fuels—mostly natural gas. Green hydrogen can be the missing piece to help decarbonize heavy industries and play a significant role in curbing the climate crisis.
“Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund is a model for corporate investment in pragmatic climate solutions. We are thrilled to have Amazon as a partner in decarbonizing industries like long-haul freight transport and aviation,” said Raffi Garabedian, CEO of Electric Hydrogen. “Amazon and The Climate Pledge Fund have a clear and expansive vision of the role that green hydrogen will play in decarbonizing their operations. We look forward to collaborating on fossil-free hydrogen projects as we advance toward commercialization.”
“We are proud to welcome Amazon as our investor and look forward to working with a company that has such ambitious climate targets”, said Nils Aldag, CEO of Sunfire. “Green hydrogen is urgently needed to decarbonize and to secure energy supply without fossil fuels. Since 2010, Sunfire has been leading the way in this field. With a unique electrolyzer portfolio and a team of 400 specialists, Sunfire today is one of the few companies capable of providing hydrogen-producing systems on an industrial scale. With Amazon’s help, we want to further scale up our production capacity.”
The Climate Pledge Fund is investing in visionary companies across industries, including transportation and logistics, energy generation, storage and utilization, manufacturing and materials, circular economy, and food and agriculture. Amazon has now invested in 18 companies, including Rivian, Redwood Materials, Turntide, CarbonCure, Pachama, Infinium, ZeroAvia, BETA Technologies, ION Energy, CMC, Resilient Power, Hippo Harvest, Amogy, Ambient Photonics, Brimstone, Verne, and now Electric Hydrogen and Sunfire. These companies are advancing technologies and business solutions that can help Amazon and others reach net-zero carbon by 2040.
Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge in 2019, committing to reach net-zero carbon by 2040—10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement. The Pledge now has more than 300 signatories, including Best Buy, IBM, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Siemens, Unilever, Verizon, and Visa.
To reach its goal, Amazon is taking real business actions and establishing a path to power its operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025, five years ahead of the company’s original target of 2030. Amazon is also delivering on its vision to make all Amazon shipments net-zero carbon, with 50% net-zero carbon by 2030, and purchasing 100,000 electric delivery vehicles, the largest order ever of electric delivery vehicles.
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