In the pursuit of green alternatives, Amazon claimed the top spot last year as the coporative giant with the biggest renewable energy purchase. The e-commerce titan added approximately 100 new projects to its portfolio, effectively boosting its generating capacity to an impressive 33+ gigawatts, a clear 10 gigawatts ahead of competitor, Apple.
As reported by BloombergNEF, this move made Amazon the leading corporate buyer of renewable energy. The company’s portfolio is split between large-scale wind and solar projects along with on-site solar power implementations. Altogether, this combination generates sufficient energy to power 8.3 million households, states Amazon.
By incorporating renewables and storage contracts, Amazon successfully decreased its Scope 2 emissions, a category comprising emissions from purchased electricity, even as data center operations expanded.
Although strides have been made, the journey to complete carbon neutrality is far from finished for Amazon. The largest part of Amazon’s emissions, known as Scope 3, comes from activities within lesser control, such as air travel, leased infrastructure, and construction.
Amazon’s sustainability report for 2023 reveals that total emissions peaked in 2021 following years of consistent increase. The report also indicated a lower carbon intensity, which signifies the ratio of greenhouse gas emissions to gross sales. While this serves as a positive narrative, a complete assessment of Amazon’s path to its net-zero goal for 2040 is yet to be released in the upcoming 2024 sustainability report.
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