Amazon’s total emissions fell 3 percent last year

E-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc.’s overall carbon dioxide emissions fell by 3 percent last year as the company met a goal to generate all of the electricity it uses worldwide from renewable sources, Amazon said yesterday.

Amazon set a goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2040, and in 2019 set a goal of generating 100% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. It has already achieved that goal.

The company’s total emissions last year were 68.82 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, up from 70.74 million tons the previous year, according to its annual sustainability report.

Photo: Reuters

Amazon’s total emissions include emissions generated by its supply chain, third-party logistics and purchased electricity.

Emissions from the company’s direct operations rose 7 percent to 14.27 million tons, which Amazon said was due to an increase in the number of packages delivered by its internal logistics team and overall growth in business. The figure also includes data centers.

“We know that generative AI requires a lot of computing power. To meet that demand while still moving toward our climate goals, we will need different energy sources than we originally anticipated,” Amazon Worldwide Carbon Director Chris Roe said in an email.

Amazon invested in 112 new renewable energy projects last year and is the world’s largest corporate buyer of renewable energy, according to Bloomberg NEF research.

The company said it also sometimes buys renewable energy credits to bridge the gap between the time a renewable energy project is built and when it begins operating. It did not say how many credits were used to reach the goal.

Amazon has reportedly invested in more than 500 wind and solar projects worldwide to date, with a total capacity of 28 gigawatts.