Amazon and Global Optimism announced Monday that more than 300 companies have now signed The Climate Pledge, a nearly 600 percent growth over the past year.
Among the almost 100 new signatories are global container shipping giant Maersk, enterprise software developer SAP, North American timberland company Weyerhaeuser, residential solar company Sunrun and car and audio services firm Harman.
In 2019, Amazon and Global Optimism co-founded The Climate Pledge, a commitment to reach the Paris Agreement 10 years early and be net-zero carbon by 2040. Now, 312 organizations have signed The Climate Pledge, sending an important signal that there will be rapid growth in demand for products and services that help reduce carbon emissions.
Signatories to The Climate Pledge must agree to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis; 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, and neutralize any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent and socially beneficial offsets to achieve net-zero annual carbon emissions by 2040.
“The effects of climate change are becoming more and more apparent in our surroundings and daily lives, and we firmly believe that the private sector must continue to innovate and collaborate across regions and industries in order to decarbonize the global economy at scale,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said. “It’s an encouraging sign that more than 300 businesses have now signed The Climate Pledge, which commits them to confronting climate change head-on by incorporating real business changes that will make a lasting impact on our planet. We can only do it together.”
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Global Optimism invites and inspires people and businesses from all over the world to face the climate crisis head on and take action toward a regenerative future. It does this through trusted partnerships, an award-winning podcast, and public engagements.
Many of the new pledge signatories are already making considerable strides toward reducing their carbon emissions. Maersk is providing industry-leading green customer offerings across the supply chain, including Maersk Eco Delivery, which targets emission reductions in ocean shipping. Amazon began participating in this service in 2020 and continues today.
The Climate Pledge also added several companies that have previously received investments through the $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund, Amazon’s corporate venture capital fund that invests in companies that can help accelerate a path to meeting The Climate Pledge.
The announcement underscores the findings of the latest report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which emphasizes the need for immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to invest in natural climate solutions to limit warming to close to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and to mitigate damages.
Meanwhile, Maersk is also making eco moves on the fuel front.
To boost the global production capacity of green methanol, the shipping giant entered into strategic partnerships with six companies–CIMC ENRIC, European Energy, Green Technology Bank, Orsted, Proman and WasteFuel–with the intent of sourcing at least 730,000 tons per year by end of 2025. With this production capacity, by the end of 2025 at the latest, Maersk said it will reach well beyond the green methanol needed for the first 12 green container vessels currently on order.
“To transition towards decarbonization, we need a significant and timely acceleration in the production of green fuels,” Henriette Hallberg Thygesen, CEO of Fleet & Strategic Brands at Maersk, said. “Green methanol is the only market-ready and scalable available solution today for shipping. Production must be increased through collaboration across the ecosystem and around the world. That is why these partnerships mark an important milestone to get the transition to green energy underway.”
Once fully developed these projects of both bio- and e-methanol will enable Maersk to source green methanol at scale across several regions around the globe. Collaboration and investments in innovative projects are the most important ways to reach a net zero fuel value chain, the company noted, adding that it will keep on working with a wide-ranging group of leading companies on these and further projects to accelerate the urgent transition to green energy.