Amazon has announced that it has matched 100 per cent of the electricity used across its global operations with renewable energy sources in 2023, seven years ahead of its original target date.
This includes all electricity used at its data centres, corporate buildings and fulfilment centres.
The company set the 100 per cent renewable energy target for 2030 as a part of the broader 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,” says Kara Hurst, Amazon Vice President of Worldwide Sustainability.
“We 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.
“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.”
Amazon has now enabled seven renewable energy projects in Australia. 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, these projects are estimated to generate more than 1,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of clean power annually, which can power more than 175,000 Australian homes.
In addition to this, Amazon has invested AU $467 million in wind and solar farms in Australia from 2020 to 2022.
Amazon also continues to innovate in other sustainability areas, such as packaging. The company aims to reduce waste and single-use plastic in customer deliveries through initiatives like the ‘Ships in Product Packing’ program, which eliminates unnecessary packaging.
In Australia, Amazon has 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, Amazon globally reduced the average per-shipment packaging weight by 43 per cent and avoided more than 3 million metric tons of packaging, including nearly half a million metric tons in 2023.