Last year, Amazon pollution skyrocketed despite its efforts to position itself as a climate change leader. According to its most recent environmental report, its carbon dioxide emissions jumped sharply by 18% in 2021 compared to 2020.
Last year, Amazon produced 71.54 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, which is about similar to the annual pollution produced by 180 gas-fired power plants. Amazon pollution has grown by double digits for the previous two years in a row since it made a public climate pledge and started revealing its emissions in 2019. Between that year and 2021, the company’s CO2 emission has climbed by an astounding 40%. They have to do more to reduce pollution due to Amazon climate pledge.
For the Second Consecutive Year, Amazon Pollution Increased by Double Digits
The corporation wanted to reach net-zero carbon dioxide emissions for its operations by 2040, according to Jeff Bezos, who was the company’s CEO at the time. Unfortunately, this kind of commitment offers companies permission to use misleading carbon accounting. To reduce their emissions by funding ostensibly green initiatives, they may invest in carbon offsets that claim to reduce the effects of their emissions. Additionally, “net-zero” emissions may be the goal. This typically involves promoting the use of clean energy, protecting forests, or planting trees. These offsets, however, frequently fail to reduce the amount of CO2 emissions that build up in our atmosphere and warms the earth. It is vital to control greenhouse gas emissions.
In order to encourage other companies to make comparable commitments to cut CO2 and “neutralize” remaining emissions with “credible” offsets, Amazon co-founded the “Climate Pledge” campaign in 2019. In order to make a significant difference to the climate, a firm must eliminate most or all its emissions.
Amazon isn’t a good example of it, despite its best PR efforts. In their sustainability report, Amazon uses a more upbeat statistic to draw attention away from its increasing absolute carbon emissions. The study suggests that rather than only focusing on a company’s carbon footprint in terms of absolute emissions, it is important to consider whether it is reducing its carbon intensity.
Amazon claims to have reduced its “carbon intensity” by a tiny amount, or 1.9 percent, which translates to a slight reduction in the quantity of emissions it produces for every dollar in sales. The decreases in carbon intensity are swiftly reversed when the company’s revenue rises, therefore this metric can potentially be misleading.
It’s Crucial to Consider a Company’s Whole Carbon Footprint
This all serves as evidence of why it’s crucial to evaluate a company’s whole carbon footprint in order to determine whether it is actually reducing emissions. To make matters worse, unlike some other companies, like Target, Amazon does not account for the emissions that are produced during the manufacturing of many of the products it sells. As a result, the numbers it provides are likely an underestimate of the actual amount of pollution the e-commerce giant is responsible for.
Additionally, although tracking carbon dioxide emissions is important for addressing the global warming crisis that is causing more severe heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, storms, and other disasters, it doesn’t fully take into account the problems caused by Amazon’s mushrooming warehouses and the countless smiley-faced diesel delivery trucks. Numerous communities where Amazon intends to develop warehouses have long criticized the company for raising ambient air quality issues like pollution, smoke, and noise. This most recent analysis shows that there is still a long way to go before Amazon completely stops producing pollution.
Conclusion
However, the rise in its overall carbon footprint demonstrates how challenging it is for a rapidly expanding business-like Amazon to reduce pollution. The business has been investing in solar energy, using recycled plastic in its products, and even renaming a hockey rink in Seattle in honor of its anti-climate change campaign. It is important to reduce Amazon pollution.
Amazon, meanwhile, relies on fuel-burning vehicles and airplanes to distribute billions of things across the globe. In order to deliver items to customers more quickly, it really declared earlier this year that it would purchase 11 planes. Last year, Amazon’s emissions from fossil fuels increased 69%. There were some gains. The emissions from shoppers’ drives to Amazon’s Whole Foods grocery stores decreased 32% during the epidemic, the company claimed, as more people stayed at home and placed their orders online.
