When it comes to achieving its environmental targets in terms of emissions, Amazon isn’t doing very well. Based on data from the business’ annual sustainability report.
The biggest online retailer in the world has reaffirmed its intention to reduce carbon emissions to zero. But it won’t happen until 2040, according to plans. Amazon operations generated at least 71.54 million metric tons of carbon dioxide for the entire year 2021. That is an increase of 18% from the previous year.
EMISSIONS FROM AMAZON ARE PROBABLY WORSE THAN REPORTED, FALLING WELL BELOW ITS GOALS Now, the still-winding-down COVID-19 epidemic is probably the main reason for the rise in emissions from Amazon in contrary to its goal of lowering those. Over the period of the crisis, Amazon’s shipments dramatically increased.
Advertisement Amazon effectively doubled the number of its fulfillment centers as a result.
The new fulfillment centers caused other losses in addition to boosting Amazon’s emissions. In particular, the business disclosed a $3.8 billion net loss in the first three months of this year. Orders through the corporation have been slipping toward normal levels in the meanwhile. Amazon has as many as 18 facilities in 12 states on pause as a result.
The first emission estimates offered by Amazon, however, could not be entirely correct. In reality, there is a good chance that the corporation has been significantly underreported. Unlike many of its major rivals, including Walmart and Target, Amazon does not account for all of the things it sells when calculating its emissions.
Advertisement Only about 1% of items sold on Amazon are produced by the firm or use its logos, including Amazon, Alexa, Echo, or Prime. The aforementioned figure solely includes those items. Approximately 99 percent of Amazon’s products go unaccounted for in terms of emissions. And this suggests that Amazon-related emissions are probably substantially higher than previously thought.
