Words by Tess Becker
Amazon has made big commitments to become greener, so how are they getting on?
What have they announced already?
The online retailer announced 37 new renewable energy projects around the world in April 2022. Being one of the largest polluters on the planet, they've have been working toward their 2025 goal to be powered by 100% renewable energy.
They originally set the goal for 2030.
The projects will supply clean energy for Amazon’s operations, including its corporate offices, fulfillment centers, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers that support millions of customers globally.
How are they doing?
Well, 23 of the 37 projects are situated in places around the US, including a 500-megawatt solar farm in Texas. Their total renewable production in the US has moved from 7.2 GW to 10.4 GW since the beginning of the effort.
New global projects have increased their international capacity from 12.2 GW to 15.7 GW.
What have they said?
“Our commitment to protecting the planet and limiting Amazon’s impact on the environment has led us to become the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in the world in both 2020 and 2021. Given the growth of our business, and our mission to run 100% of Amazon’s operations on renewable energy, we aren’t slowing our renewable investments down,” said Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon.
“We now have 310 wind and solar projects across 19 countries, and are working hard to reach our goal of powering 100% of our business on renewable energy by 2025 — five years ahead of our original target of 2030.”
This article aligns with the UN SDG Climate Action and Responsible Consumption and Production.
