AMAZON CONTINUES STRONG

INVESTMENTS ARE TURNING TO FRUITION

Climate targets. If you’re in business, you know it’s much more than a catchphrase.

In 2021, the UN climate conference, COP26, was held in Glasgow, Scotland. Against the backdrop of a Global Green City working hard on recovery, it was time for the mandated 5-year stocktake for the 196 nations that had signed the Paris Climate Accord.

It’s designed as a pathway toward limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, essentially requiring nations to make plans for climate-resilient development and allocate financial flows to make it happen. It’s a legally binding international treaty … that operates on an honor system.

Where did nations stand on the carbon neutrality commitments they’d made? Some of it was encouraging, but overall, the picture was not pretty. Poorer countries claimed they were not able to match the funding they had been sent, so they did little, or nothing. A world economic leader, and major greenhouse gas emitter, cried out that it couldn’t do its part, proclaiming itself an emerging nation.

We get it. Policy and regulations are not the most effective road to sustainability. It’s no surprise the industry is leading the way.

It’s not easy there, either. So, when we recently put the spotlight on Amazon’s efforts, it was nice not to get any flack like, “they owe the world because of their impacts.” The metrics of accountability are also hard, and yes, some should do more than others. Most of them are, whether driven by corporate ethos or increasing demand from investors and consumers.

But there’s also a point to be made that every company, every city and town, and every impactor has the ability to switch up, clean up and make substantial changes. Sometimes it just takes a little ingenuity and inspiration.

This update is mostly about just that. How a company literally puts their money where their mouth is.

Amazon’s portfolio of global solar and wind projects has surpassed 500.

Being the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewables is part of its plan to reach its goal of 100% renewable energy use by 2030.

But it’s not working out as planned.

It is currently on track to hit that target next year.

We’re talking projects, in 27 countries, some utility-scale, and that will have a combined capacity to power the equivalent of 7.2 million U.S. homes. That’s about 5%.

Different perspectives

The scope and diversity of Amazon’s businesses needing to be transformed entails thousands of warehouses, fulfillment centers, corporate offices, data centers, retail stores and hundreds of thousands of vehicles, across nearly 60 countries.

Recently announced is an energy project built on a brownfield, otherwise restricted from use. That’s a precedent for bringing purpose and value back to the more than 450,000 abandoned properties in the U.S.

Those projects also generate economic growth, including jobs. By the numbers, $12 billion in U.S. investments created 39,000 jobs. In Europe, €2.4 billion invested added 3,900 jobs and grew the GDP by €723 million.