Eighty-six companies join Amazon’s Climate Pledge

Eighty-six more companies have joined Amazon's Climate Pledge initiative taking the number of signatories to more than 201, across 21 countries.

The e-commerce company co-founded the Climate Pledge with London-based Global Optimism in October 2019, to encourage businesses to achieve net-zero annual carbon emissions by 2040, a decade before the Paris Agreement’s 2050 goals.

“Climate Pledge signatories are expected to collectively mitigate 1.98 billion metric tonnes of carbon emissions from a 2020 baseline,” the Seattle, US-based company said.

“This is equivalent to 5.4 per cent of current global annual emissions … demonstrating the collective impact the Climate Pledge is expected to have in addressing climate change and prompting more action to tackle the climate crisis,” it said.

The new signatories represent 26 industries and include Salesforce, HP, Procter & Gamble, Nespresso, Greenko Group and Asos.

Together, the pledge members now generate more than $1.8 trillion in global annual sales and have more than seven million employees, said Amazon.

In June last year, Amazon also announced a Climate Pledge Fund, with initial funding of $2 billion to invest in sustainable technologies and services.

Members of the Climate Pledge commit to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis. They carry out decarbonisation through business changes and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions and other methods.

“Addressing climate change effectively requires collaboration across industries and credible science-based actions,” David Taylor, chairman of the board, president and chief executive of P&G, said.

“The task ahead is urgent, difficult and much bigger than any single company can solve alone,” he added.

P&G, which has reduced its emissions across global operations by 52 per cent since 2010, recently said it aims to reach net-zero emissions across its operations by 2040.

California-based HP is also aiming to achieve net-zero emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases across its value chain by 2040.

It is planning a 50 per cent absolute reduction in emissions by 2030 compared to 2019.

“The urgency of the climate crisis demands that we take bold action to protect our planet,” Enrique Lores, president and chief executive of HP, said.

“We are driving this agenda across our product and service portfolio, operational footprint and broader value chain … we have a huge opportunity to power the future growth of our business while creating a more sustainable future,” he added.