Amazon sees decline in carbon emissions for the first time

amazon The company lowered its carbon emissions for the first time since it began disclosing the figure four years ago.

In its Annual Sustainability Report The e-tailer released Tuesday that its activities emitted the equivalent of 71.27 million tonnes of carbon dioxide last year. This represents a decrease of 0.4% compared to the 2021 reported carbon footprint of 71.54 million tonnes. Emissions are still about 40% higher than in 2019, when Amazon first disclosed its carbon footprint.

The company also reported that its carbon intensity, which measures emissions per dollar of sales, fell 7% between 2021 and 2022, and has fallen 24% since 2019.

“We achieved this goal in large part by improving efficiencies across our business and continuing to invest in renewable energy,” Amazon said in the report.

Scope 2 emissions, or emissions from electricity use, will fall by 29% between 2021 and 2022, the company said.

Amazon has spent millions of dollars on wind and solar projects to power some of its warehouses, data centers and offices, and it recently became the world’s largest corporate buyer of renewable energy. It has also pledged to achieve net-zero carbon across its operations by 2040.

Amazon said its Category 3 emissions, which include indirect sources such as building construction and third-party transportation, fell 0.7% by 2022 after three years of growth.

The company is committed to electrifying its delivery fleet, including buying 100,000 Rivian Electric vans, which are said to be on the road by 2030. The company now has more than 9,000 electric vehicles in its global fleet and 2,600 Rivian vans in North America, the report said.

Yet Amazon’s climate record and the way it measures its own environmental record has faced scrutiny.Employee and shareholder groups have expressed concern that Amazon is not meeting its climate commitments, while environmental justice groups have criticized the company’s rapid warehouse expansion, which they see as a practice cause disproportionate environmental harm Its warehouses tend to be concentrated in minority neighborhoods.

amazon recently eliminated One of its climate goals is called Freight Zero, and the company has pledged to make half of its freight volume carbon neutral by 2030. explain It “no longer makes sense” to have separate targets for a business area, instead focusing on climate commitments.

Amazon said on Tuesday it would also update its supply chain standards to require suppliers to regularly share data on their carbon emissions and set targets for reducing emissions. The change will take effect from next year.