As part of its commitment to improving environmental conditions in the communities in which Amazon operates, the company has announced a nearly $23.5 million (€20 million) allocation for nature-based solutions in Europe as part of Amazon’s Right Now Climate Fund.
The first funding recipient is the Parco Italia urban forestry program in Italy. Parco Italia aims to plant 22 million trees—one tree per city resident—across 14 metropolitan areas in Italy as part of a reforestation and research program supported by the Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology, the Fondazione AlberiItalia, and Stefano Boeri Architetti.
The Parco Italia is the first funding recipient.Photo by Fabio SalbitanoThe Parco Italia program will receive nearly $2.35 million (€2 million), which will support strategic planning of the program and initial tree planting. The project will also help cities become more climate-change resilient, increasing urban biodiversity, improving air quality, and promoting urban cooling.
Amazon’s commitment to building a sustainable business for its employees, customers, and communities is at the heart of this investment and helps drive positive change worldwide, including in the locations where Amazon operates. Amazon has millions of customers across Italy and 1,400 employees in Milan, spread across corporate offices, Amazon Web Services, and logistics sites. This announcement comes after Amazon’s commitment to fund an urban greening program that aims to reduce climate change risks and increase species biodiversity in German cities.
The investment comes from Amazon’s global Right Now Climate Fund, which was set up in 2019 to support nature conservation and restoration initiatives worldwide. The allocation for Europe will fund vital projects across the region supporting carbon mitigation and biodiversity improvements, and provide social benefits such as job creation and access to nature.
These projects supplement the efforts and investments Amazon is making to decarbonize its own business operations, as the company looks to fund projects that offer robust and science-based benefits that protect our environment and enhance the well-being of our communities.
Zak Watts, Amazon’s director of sustainability in Europe, said the funding is also providing support to local communities.
“As co-founders of The Climate Pledge—a commitment to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement 10 years early—we’re excited to launch this commitment to funding in Europe,” Watts said. “Our goal with nature-based investments like the Parco Italia program is to create positive environmental and social impact, closer to our customers and communities in Europe. In the fight to combat climate change and preserve biodiversity, we will need both large-scale and local action—and we’re committing to investing in both.”
Stefano Boeri, founder of Stefano Boeri Architetti and president of Forestami Scientific Committee, said: “We need trees to reduce heat and improve our environment, air, and quality of life. Natural protected areas and forests must be linked to greener cities, in a global network of biodiversity. Trees are the starting point of the sustainable cities of the future. The challenge of urban forestry lies in proposing innovative and sustainable urban ecosystems in which living nature and city intertwine and act as a single organism. I have been working on reforestation and urban greening projects for several years now, and it is great to launch Parco Italia, which is the most ambitious project I have worked on, with a partner like Amazon, which has accepted the challenge to fight climate change, improve quality of life, and make Italian cities greener.”
