Amazon announced nine new utility-scale wind and solar energy projects in the U.S., Canada, Spain, Sweden and the U.K. on Monday.
The company now has 206 renewable energy projects globally, including 71 utility-scale wind and solar projects and 135 solar rooftops on facilities and stores worldwide that will generate 8.5 gigawatts (GW) of electricity production capacity globally.
Amazon said with these latest projects, it is now the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in Europe, with more than 2.5 GW of renewable energy capacity, enough to power more than 2 million European homes a year.
The projects supply renewable energy to Amazon’s corporate offices, fulfillment centers, Whole Foods Market stores and Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers that power Amazon and millions of AWS customers globally. The renewable energy from these projects also helps the e-commerce giant meet its commitment to produce the clean energy equivalent to the electricity used by all consumer Echo devices.
All of these projects put Amazon on a path to power 100 percent of its activities with renewable energy by 2025–five years ahead of the original target of 2030. The company said investing in renewable energy is one of the many actions it’s taking as part of The Climate Pledge, a commitment to be net-zero carbon by 2040, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement.
“Amazon continues to scale up its investments in renewable energy as part of its effort to meet The Climate Pledge, our commitment to be net-zero carbon by 2040,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO. “Many parts of our business are already operating on renewable energy and we expect to power all of Amazon with renewable energy by 2025.”
The nine new wind and solar projects include Amazon’s first solar project paired with energy storage. Based in California’s Imperial Valley, it allows the company to align solar generation with the greatest demand. The project generates 100 megawatts (MW) of solar energy, which is enough to power over 28,000 homes for a year and includes 70 megawatts (MW) of energy storage. The project also allows Amazon to deploy next-generation technologies for energy storage and management while maintaining the reliability and resilience of California’s electricity grid.
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The company’s first renewable project in Canada is an 80 MW solar project in the Alberta. Once complete, it will produce over 195,000 MW hours of renewable energy to the grid, or enough energy to power more than 18,000 Canadian homes for a year.
The largest corporate renewable energy project in the UK is a 350 MW wind farm off the coast of Scotland and is Amazon’s largest in the country. It is also the largest corporate renewable energy deal announced by any company in the U.K.
In the U.S., Amazon’s first renewable energy project in Oklahoma is a 118 MW wind project located in Murray County. Amazon is also building new solar projects in Ohio’s Allen, Auglaize and Licking counties. Together, these Ohio projects will account for more than 400 MW of new energy procurement in the state.
In Spain, Amazon’s newest solar projects add more than 170 MW to the grid. Amazon’s newest project in Sweden is a 258 MW onshore wind project located in Northern Sweden.
Climate Pledge reaches 53 signatories
Amazon and Global Optimism co-founded The Climate Pledge in 2019, a commitment to reach the Paris Agreement 10 years early and be net-zero carbon by 2040.
To reach its goal, Amazon said it will continue to reduce emissions across its operations by taking real business actions and establishing a path to power its operations with 100 percent renewable energy, delivering its Shipment Zero vision to make all shipments net-zero carbon, purchasing 100,000 electric delivery vehicles and by investing $2 billion in the development of decarbonizing services and solutions through the Climate Pledge Fund.
On Wednesday, Amazon and Global Optimism announced that more than 100 companies have now signed The Climate Pledge, including IBM, Unilever, Verizon, Siemens, Microsoft and Best Buy. Pledge signatories in total generate more than $1.4 trillion in global annual sales and have more than 5 million employees across 25 industries in 16 countries, demonstrating the collective impact The Climate Pledge can have in addressing climate change.
Signatories to The Climate Pledge agree to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis and implement decarbonization strategies in line with the Paris Agreement through real business changes and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions, and other carbon emission elimination strategies.
They also agree to neutralize any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent and socially beneficial offsets to achieve net-zero annual carbon emissions by 2040.
All signatories are taking science-based, high-impact actions to tackle climate change by innovating in supply chain efficiency, sustainable transportation, circular economy and clean energy solutions. Many organizations are also meaningfully involving customers in their journey to net-zero with initiatives focused on innovative packaging and sustainable product design and development, while delivering solutions to empower customers to reduce their own emissions with educational campaigns and sustainable shopping experiences.