Amazon’s U.S. transportation pollution surges since company announced ‘Climate Pledge’ five years ago

Amazon's U.S. transportation pollution surges since company announced 'Climate Pledge' five years ago

New report reveals 18% year-over-year growth in CO2 emissions from Amazon's U.S. shipping and deliveries

Date:September 13, 2024

SEATTLE (Traditional Puget Sound Salish and Duwamish Lands) -Since Amazon announced its "Climate Pledge" initiative to reduce emissions in September of 2019, the company continued to expand its U.S. shipping and deliveries pollution - and today, a joint investigation by Stand.earth Research Group (SRG), the Clean Mobility Collective (CMC), and the Ship it Zero (SiZ) campaign reveals Amazon's greenhouse gas emissions have dramatically increased since that announcement.

• Click here to read "Prime Polluter"

Over the five-year period since 2019, Prime Polluterreveals Amazon continued expanding emissions from its U.S. imports and domestic deliveries at an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 18%, from 3.33 million metric tons carbon dioxide in 2019 to 5.84 million metric tons carbon dioxide in 2023. Key contributors to this increased pollution include Amazon's growing dependence on air freight shipping (+67% CO2 emissions) and expansion of fossil fuel-powered delivery vans (+195% CO2 emissions).

Key highlights from this investigation are as follows:

• From 2019 to 2023, Amazon has increased its U.S. air freight pollution by 67%(average annual growth of 15%), reflecting a deliberate decision to bypass emissions-reduction initiatives with an increased aviation focus. Last year, air freight generated more than 42% of the carbon emissions of a package's journey in the U.S.
• From 2019 to 2023, Amazon's delivery van carbon dioxide emissions grew over 190%, and its heavy-duty truck emissions grew by 51%. Heavy-duty trucks comprise the second largest share of U.S. dock-to-door emissions, with 37% of each package's carbon output.
• Amazon's U.S. inbound and domestic marine shipping emissions increased 26% in 2023 as compared to 2019. The company has not announced plans for the transition of this sector to zero emissions.
• In 2023, Amazon Logistics U.S. dock-to-door delivery pollution generated 5.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (+18% average year-over-year since 2019).

In the near term, the report concludes that Amazon should commit to zero-emission deliveries in the last mile and maritime sectors.Amazon also must show a verifiable roadmap to zero-emission shipping in heavy-duty trucking by 2035 and aviation by 2040, and it must commit to putting its goods on zero-emission maritime ships by 2030. If the company fails to take these steps, it will put our climate and communities in peril during the remaining years of this critical decade.

"No one should be fooled by Amazon's greenwashing," said Joshua Archer, Senior Global Corporate Campaigner at Stand.earth. "The company remains a prime polluter, despite its efforts to position itself as a climate champion. There's still time to correct course, and we are eager to join Amazon leadership at the table and discuss real solutions that protect our climate and communities."

"Amazon's heavy-duty trucks and last-mile delivery vans are a disaster for the climate and frontline communities," said Aslihan Tumer, International Coordinator at the Clean Mobility Collective. "This report shows the magnitude of the threat and underscores the need for Amazon to act. The promises Amazon made in the Climate Pledge don't go nearly far enough."

"While the globe is burning, Amazon is doing little to address emissions from shipping their products. Addressing the climate crisis is urgent and portside communities are paying the price. Amazon's maritime emissions have risen 26% since 2019, and idling ships carrying Amazon products inbound are poisoning frontline communities who bear the brunt of port pollution. This is greenwashing at its finest. Amazon must act now and commit to zero-emission, fossil-free ocean shipping by 2030," said Erika Thi Patterson, Ship It Zero spokesperson.

Amazon has the market-shaping power and responsibility to innovate shipping and logistics consistent with the principles of climate and environmental justice. Amazon has an estimated 38% share of the U.S. e-commerce market. As a shipping and logistics company, Amazon Logistics has overtaken FedEx and UPS to become the largest delivery company in the U.S., with a 27% share of parcel volume. In 2023, we estimate that Amazon Logistics shipped 8.9 billion parcels globally. Amazon also contracts with third parties, such as Delivery Service Providers, USPS, and UPS, for last-mile delivery, delivering a conservative estimate of almost 15 billion parcels globally(see Annex: Data and Methodology).

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Media contacts:

Shane Reese, Corporate Campaigns Media Director, Stand.earth, [email protected], +1 919 339 3785 (Eastern Time)

Kudzayi Ngwerume, Communications & Engagement Manager, UMI Fund, [email protected], +33 6 34 04 34 86

Gwen Dobbs, Campaign Communications Director, Ship It Zero, [email protected], +1 202-329-9295 (Pacific Time)

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ABOUT STAND.EARTH RESEARCH GROUP
Stand.earth Research Group (SRG) obtains crucial information to help build campaigns on critical issues. SRG specializes in chain of custody research, identifying and tracking raw materials as they move through complex supply chains, tracking environmental destruction and human rights violations to help hold corporate actors accountable and, ultimately, change corporate practices.

ABOUT PACIFIC ENVIRONMENT
Pacific Environment works to stop climate change and ensure healthy ecosystems around the Pacific Rim for the benefit of people and our planet. We campaign to stop climate change by working to fast-track key industries toward zero carbon emissions. We focus on major global industries that have received less public attention but whose carbon emissions are significant and still growing: the maritime shipping and the petrochemical (plastics) industries.

ABOUT SHIP IT ZERO

Ship It Zero is a climate and public health campaign to move the world's largest retail companies to 100% zero-emission ocean shipping. We are pushing corporations to take responsibility for their ocean shipping pollution and lead the way to climate-friendly, clean-air shipping practices.

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