Amazon Is Now The World's Largest Corporate Purchaser of Renewable Energy, As It Advance its Climate Pledge Commitment to be Net-zero Carbon by 2040 By CIOReviewIndia Team

Amazon Is Now The World's Largest Corporate Purchaser of Renewable Energy, As It Advance its Climate Pledge Commitment to be Net-zero Carbon by 2040

CIOReviewIndia Team | Thursday, 10 December 2020, 14:24 IST

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Today, Amazon revealed its 26 new utility-scale wind and solar energy projects which totals 3.4 Giga Watt (GW) of electricity production capacity. It brings its total investment in the renewable energy in 2020 to 35 projects, and more than 4 GW of capacity. The largest corporate investment in renewable energy in a single year witnessed now. These new projects will give Amazon the status of being the largest ever corporate purchaser of renewable energy.

Now, Amazon has invested in 6.5 GW of wind and solar projects that will enable the company in supplying its operations with 18+ million Mega Watt hours (MWh) of renewable energy per annum. It is enough to power 1.7 million U.S. homes for a year, and can supply renewable energy for Amazon’s corporate offices, fulfillment centers, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers, which support millions of customers worldwide. This will also be guiding in advancing Amazon’s goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions, by 2040.

A part of the commitment is powering Amazon’s infrastructure with 100 percent renewable energy, and the company is now posed to achieve this milestone by 2025, five years before the schedule.

“Amazon is helping fight climate change by moving quickly to power our businesses with renewable energy. With a total of 127 solar and wind projects, Amazon is now the biggest corporate buyer of renewable energy ever. We are on a path to running 100% of our business on renewable energy by 2025 — five years ahead of our original target of 2030. This is just one of the many steps we’re taking that will help us meet our Climate Pledge. I couldn’t be more proud of all the teams across Amazon that continue to work hard, smart, and fast to get these projects up and running,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO.

 The 26 new wind and solar projects declared today are situated in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, South Africa, Sweden, the U.K., and the U.S. The new projects are Amazon’s first in France, Germany, Italy, and South Africa. In the U.S., Amazon has now enabled wind and solar projects in California, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia.

The company has a total of 127 renewable energy projects globally, which include 59 utility scale wind, and solar renewable energy projects, and 68 solar rooftops on fulfillment centers, and sort centers in the world.

 “Private sector investment is essential to scaling renewable energy at the pace necessary to drive global climate action. The U.S.-based projects alone make Amazon’s announcement 270% larger than the largest corporate procurement announcement from a single off-taker to date, and showcase the company’s leadership and commitment to a clean and prosperous energy future,” said, Miranda Ballentine, CEO, Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA).

Gregory Wetstone, President and CEO, American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), said, “On behalf of the renewable sector, we applaud Amazon for its unprecedented contribution to the renewable energy transition this year. With an impressive 35 major new renewable projects in 2020, Amazon deserves tremendous credit for its leadership in the global shift to renewable energy. Procuring more than 4,000 MW of new renewable power in a single year is an incredible achievement, and it marks big progress toward Amazon’s goal of being powered by 100% renewable power. We are immensely grateful to Amazon for their efforts to help us stay within shouting distance of the greenhouse gas emission reductions scientists say are needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.”

 In 2019, Amazon and Global Optimism co-founded the Climate Pledge, a commitment for reaching the Paris Agreement 10 years before the schedule, and achieve net zero carbon by 2020. The agreement has 31 signatories which include Unilever, Verizon, Siemens, Microsoft, and Best Buy.

For reaching its goal, Amazon will continue the reduction the emission in its operations by establishing a path to power its operations with 100 percent renewable energy, five years before the company’s initial target of 2030 by delivering its Shipment Zero vision for making all shipments net-zero carbon, with 50 percent net-zero carbon by 2030, and also purchasing 100,000 electric delivery vehicles.

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