Amazon to acquire electric vans

Amazon.com Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos pledged to make the largest US e-commerce company net carbon neutral by 2040 and to buy 100,000 electric delivery vans from a start-up, as employees and consumers around the world plan protests to address climate change.

Cutting emissions is a challenging goal for Amazon, which delivers 10 billion items a year and has a massive transportation and data center footprint. “We know we can do it and we know we have to do it,” Bezos said. Bezos announced a number of actions at a press conference in Washington ahead of the upcoming Climate Week in New York, a global gathering of world and company leaders seeking ways to fight climate change.

Amazon is the first major corporation to announce such a goal by 2040, according to US non-profit group Ceres, which works with companies on sustainability commitments.

“What Amazon has announced today is groundbreaking and potentially game-changing,” said Sue Reid, vice president of climate and energy at Ceres. “This will certainly have ripple effects because Amazon is so intertwined with the entire economy.” Bezos said Amazon will meet the goals of the Paris climate accord 10 years ahead of the accord’s schedule, and it will use 100% renewable energy by 2030, up from 40% today. The Trump administration said in June 2017 it was withdrawing from the Paris climate accord. Environmental advocacy group Greenpeace USA welcomed the commitment, but a spokesman said the company still lags peers Google, Apple and Facebook in transparency around its renewable projects.

Amazon also pledged to buy 100,000 electric delivery vehicles from US vehicle design and manufacturing startup Rivian Automotive.

Reuters