Amazon produced about 71.54 metric tons of carbon dioxide last year, an 18 percent increase year-over-year, the company revealed in its latest sustainability report. That’s a full 20 million metric tons of CO2 more than Amazon produced in 2019, despite the expansion of Amazon’s climate programs. That fleet of all-electric Rivian vans has a lot of work cut out for it.
In a letter preceding the report, Amazon VP of Worldwide Sustainability, Kara Hurst, takes plenty of time to explain that cutting carbon emissions at a company as enormous as Amazon is never going to be easy. “The journey to become more sustainable is not simple or straightforward for any organization,” Hurst writes. “For a company the size and broad scope of Amazon, it’s a big challenge.” Don’t fret, though — Hurst says Amazon doesn’t shy away from big challenges.
