Prof. Aseem Prakash and colleague Prof. Nives Dolšak write about the recent announcement from Amazon regarding the greening of the company:
On September 19, Jeff Bezos announced that Amazon has “co-founded” the Climate Pledge with Global Optimism to meet the Paris climate targets by 2040, ten years ahead of schedule. The Pledge focuses will be:
1. 100% renewable energy by 2030 and net-zero carbon by 2040
2. induction of 100,000 electric vehicles in the delivery fleet
3. $100 million investment in reforestation projects in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy
Employees from big tech companies like Amazon and Google want their organizations to pay more attention to the climate change fight, pushing for the use of renewable energy and electrification of the delivery fleet (Amazon). The Pledge also influences U.S. politics, electrification of delivery trucks will create more domestic jobs. It also affects the supply chain and companies like Amazon and Walmart will push their suppliers to meet environmental standards.