Amazon’s Climate Pledge gains 52 more companies

The world's largest online retailer increased the number of signatories to 105 that generate more than $1.4tn in global annual sales

Amazon's Jeff Bezos has sold $6.7bn worth of Amazon shares this year. While a relative pittance for the world’s richest person, it’s more than two-thirds the value of shares he sold in 2020. Photo: AP

Fifty-two new companies joined the Climate Pledge initiative co-founded by US e-commerce giant Amazon and London-based Global Optimism to encourage organisations to achieve net-zero annual carbon emissions by 2040, a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement’s 2050 goals.

The Climate Pledge was initiated in October 2019 and the latest companies to join increases the number of signatories to 105, which represent 25 industries across 16 countries.

"We are proud to stand with other signatories to use our scale to decarbonise the economy through real business change and innovation," Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and chief executive, said in a statement.

The new signatories include Alaska Airlines, Colgate-Palmolive, Heineken, Pepsi, Telefonica and Visa. Together, the pledge members now generate more than $1.4 trillion in global annual sales, according to Amazon.

The companies "are demonstrating that moving faster towards decarbonising their businesses is a pathway to competitive advantage”, Christiana Figueres, founding partner of Global Optimism, said.

“There is no doubt we are at a tipping point to establish the low-carbon economy envisioned in the Paris Agreement,” she added.

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

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

“Understanding that accountability, partnership and collaboration are essential to producing the sustainable environmental improvements we all want," Prabha Parameswaran, global president of Colgate-Palmolive, said.

“We have embraced our extraordinary opportunity and responsibility to reduce our environmental footprint and accelerate action on climate change,” she added.

The New York-headquartered company has committed to use renewable energy across all of its operations by 2030 through solar installations and power purchase agreements.