The company set the 100% renewable energy goal for 2030, but has met the target seven years ahead of schedule. The goal is part of Amazon’s Climate Pledge – a commitment to reach net-zero carbon by 2040. Amazon is the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in the world and has invested in more than 500 solar and wind projects, including seven renewable energy projects in Australia.
“Reaching our renewable energy goal is an incredible achievement, and we’re proud of the work we’ve done to get here, seven years early. We also know that this is just a moment in time, and our work to decarbonise our operations will not always be the same each year—we’ll continue to make progress, while also constantly evolving on our path to 2040,” said Amazon Vice President of Worldwide Sustainability Kara Hurst.
“Our teams will remain ambitious, and continue to do what is right for our business, our customers and the planet. That’s why we’ll continue investing in solar and wind projects, while also supporting other forms of carbon-free energy, that can help power our operations for decades to come.”
In Australia, Amazon has now enabled seven renewable energy projects. This includes four utility scale projects – an operational solar farm in Wandoan, Queensland, operational solar farms in Suntop and Gunnedah in New South Wales, and a wind farm in Hawkesdale, Victoria – as well as three rooftop solar projects on Amazon facilities in Melbourne and Sydney.
Once operational, the projects are estimated to generate more than 1,000 GWh of clean power – enough to power more than 175,000 Australian homes. These projects are helping to power Amazon’s Australian operations, including Amazon data centres, and fulfilment centres, while also providing new sources of clean power to local communities and the East Coast grid.
The company has invested $467 million in wind and solar farms in Australia from 2020 to 2022. Globally, communities where Amazon wind and solar farms are located experienced more than $12 billion in additional investment from 2014 through 2022.
Renewable energy is just one area that Amazon is innovating and investing in as it works to become a leader in sustainability. The company is focused on improving its packaging to reduce waste and single use plastic in customer deliveries. One of the first priorities is to eliminate additional Amazon packaging altogether through the ‘Ships in Product Packing’ program. In Australia, we’re more than tripled the number of orders to customers with no added delivery packaging since 2021.
When additional Amazon packaging is required to ship a product, Amazon creates paper-based packaging and prioritises recyclable materials. All Amazon boxes shipped from the Australian fulfilment centre network are kerbside recyclable and all single-use plastic air pillows have been replaced with recyclable paper material. Since 2015, globally, Amazon has reduced the average per-shipment packaging weight by 43% and avoided more than 3 million metric tons of packaging, including nearly half a million metric tons in 2023 alone.
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