Everything you need to know about The Climate Pledge

Every September, influential world leaders, government officials, nongovernment officials (NGOs), and organizations convene for Climate Week to examine and plan for collective, global climate action. Alongside thousands of passionate individuals who are committed to fighting climate change, Amazon was among the group of leaders gathered in New York City to share lessons learned and discuss the opportunities and challenges we face as we work to decarbonize our business and global industries.

During Climate Week, members of The Climate Pledge community met for its second annual Climate Pledge Summit. Pledge signatories, business leaders, and representatives from companies and organizations, like Alaska Airlines, Clean Energy Buyers Alliance (CEBA), IBM, Proctor & Gamble, and United States Agency for International Development (USAID), shared their sustainability best practices and goals to reach net-zero carbon emissions. And government officials, including Washington state Governor Jay Inslee and U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, highlighted the need for collaborative public-private action.

The Climate Pledge announced its new partnership with C40 Cities to launch Laneshift, a groundbreaking initiative aimed at electrifying medium- and heavy-duty shipping, starting in India and Latin America. Additionally, Pledge signatories including Brooks Running, Philips, Schneider Electric, Sport-Theime, and Amazon announced a continued commitment to decarbonize ocean shipping services through the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA), and its first request for proposal (RfP) to engage cargo shippers in zero-emission fuel deliveries.

Kara Hurst, vice president of worldwide sustainability, and Amazon sustainability leaders welcome government officials like Special Presidential Envoy John Kerry, and Climate Pledge signatories to the 2023 Climate Pledge Summit.

While Climate Week takes place once a year, sustainability at Amazon is an everyday focus. Amazon is a company built on innovation and operational excellence, investing in the future and focusing on long-term results, and our approach to sustainability is no different. That’s why we co-founded and committed to The Climate Pledge.

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In 2019, Amazon took on an ambitious goal to decarbonize its entire operations by 2040. With net-zero carbon as our North Star, we co-founded The Climate Pledge with our partner Global Optimism to call on others in the business community to join us in reaching net-zero carbon by 2040—10 years ahead of the 2050 Paris Agreement. The Climate Pledge exists to bring together a cross-sector community of individuals and organizations to work together to decarbonize our economy. By signing the Pledge, companies have agreed to:

• Measure and report greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis
• Implement decarbonization strategies in line with the Paris Agreement through real business changes and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions, and other carbon emission elimination strategies
• Neutralize any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially beneficial offsets to achieve net-zero annual carbon emissions by 2040

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Companies of all sizes and industries have signed the Pledge, including Schneider Electric, Brooks Running, Impossible Foods, JetBlue, MiiR, Mercedes-Benz, SAP, Uber, and Verizon. Today, there are more than 430 companies across 56 industries and 38 countries that have committed to the same net-zero carbon emissions pledge. Learn more about the signatories. 

Launched soon after The Climate Pledge, the Climate Pledge Fund is Amazon’s $2 billion venture capital fund that invests in visionary companies whose products and services will facilitate the transition to a low carbon economy. The Fund’s goal is to develop green technologies that will support companies of all sizes on their path to decarbonizing their operations.

Since 2020, it has made investments in several industries, including transportation and logistics, energy storage and use, manufacturing and building materials, and food and agriculture.

Today, the Fund has 23 companies and startups in its investment portfolio. Its most recent investment was in August, when we announced a new investment in CarbonCapture Inc., a climate technology and carbon removal company that is pioneering modular direct air capture (DAC) systems.

Learn more about Amazon sustainability and our commitment to net-zero carbon.