On March 14, Amazon announced that more than 300 companies have now signed The Climate Pledge, a nearly 600% growth in signatories over the past year. Among the nearly 100 new signatories is the world’s largest container shipping company, Maersk.
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.
- Neutralize any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially beneficial offsets to achieve net-zero annual carbon emissions by 2040.
“Solving the climate emergency and decarbonizing our customers’ supply chains is a strategic imperative for Maersk,” said Soren Skou, A.P. Moller – Maersk CEO. “Hence, back in January 2021 we accelerated our decarbonization commitment to net-zero emissions by 2040—a decade ahead of our initial 2050 ambitions and the Paris Agreement.
“To drive the massive scale up of green fuels, we all must move now and take action. If we are meant to see changes this decade, we cannot afford to wait, and in that context, we look forward to joining The Climate Pledge, an opportunity to team up with some of our major customers, learn from them, and share best practices and solutions.”
Maersk is providing 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. Amazon’s participation reduced emissions by approximately 20 KTons of CO2e (the equivalent of 50 million average passenger vehicle miles) in 2021.
“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,” said Andy Jassy, Amazon CEO.
“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.”
The announcement underscores the findings of the latest report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 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.
Photo credit: Amazon. Amazon solar rooftops.