Amazon’s global carbon emissions decreased for the first time ever in 2022 while the business continued to grow, according to its annual sustainability report.
The global marketplace and technology firm said its total emissions dropped by 0.4 per cent – from 71.54 to 71.27 million metric tons over the year.
This compared with an 18 per cent increase in its emissions in 2021 and a 15.7 per cent increase in 2020.
It comes as the company managed to decouple emissions growth from business growth for the first time as its net sales grew by 9 per cent year-on-year.
Amazon’s carbon intensity – the amount emitted per kilowatt hour of electricity used – also decreased by 7 per cent in 2022, compared with 1.9 per cent in 2021.
In the independently verified report released on Tuesday, Amazon said several projects have contributed to the milestone, which include efforts to decarbonise its energy use.
It posted a 29 per cent drop in Scope 2 emissions (those from purchased electricity) as well as an 11 per cent reduction in Scope 1 (those from its operations).
The report said that Amazon is now using renewables to meet 90 per cent of its electricity needs, up from 85 per cent in 2021.
Efforts to transition its fleet of road vehicles has also contributed to its decarbonisation with more than 9,000 electric vehicles in its global delivery fleet in 2022.
It has also invested in energy efficiency measures for its buildings, including fitting energy-efficient lighting and cooling systems.
Amazon made some progress on packaging – a major sustainability issue for the company.
It posted an 11.6 per cent decrease in single-use plastics while 11 per cent of all packages shipped globally are now without the added Amazon delivery packaging.
The company acknowledged that reaching net zero across its global supply change is “challenging”.
There was a reduction in its Scope 3 emissions (those from across the value chain which represent the vast majority) of 0.7 per cent although it was lower than its cuts in other areas.
Amazon said that as of 2024, it will update its supply chain standards to require suppliers to share their carbon emissions data and set goals.
Kara Hurst, Amazon’s vice president and head of worldwide sustainability, said: “In 2022, we took important steps forward across our social, community and environmental work, while also continuing to expand our sustainability vision for the future of our business.
“At the centre of it all is our customer obsession. We know that sustainability is important to our customers, and we’re continuously investing, inventing and improving to make every interaction more sustainable than the last. We do this while working to minimise our impact on the planet and the communities we operate in.”
She added: “From the moment a customer clicks ‘buy now’ to the moment a package arrives on their doorstep, we have teams of scientists and engineers working to make that process more sustainable.
“Across our production studios, we’re reducing the use of fossil fuels, deploying battery-electric generators, using solar-powered cast trailers, and operating electric vehicles on sets.
“At Amazon Web Services (AWS), we’re helping customers reduce their environmental impact, offering advanced engineering, data centres and cloud computing that reduces energy and workload carbon emissions.”
