The world’s largest internet-based retailer is refusing to disclose data about its environmental impact to a leading corporate environmental watchdog. But what does Amazon have to hide?
A lot, it turns out. While Amazon made a “long term commitment” to achieve 100% renewable energy for its data centers, the scope of its climate impact is far wider than that. Beyond its data centers, Amazon is betting consumers will forget about the massive operations it runs that pump the atmosphere full of pollutants beyond the public’s eye -- from storage warehouses and packaging facilities to same-day delivery services.
But we know that behind every Amazon product lurks a deep chain of transactions that gets it to our front doors. It’s disingenuous for Amazon to talk big about renewable energy in its data centers when it refuses to disclose the environmental impact of the rest of its operations. We need to push Amazon to release the full facts about its climate pollution.
Tell Amazon it’s time to come clean about its pollution record.
When the Climate Disclosure Project launched in 2013, it released climate data from over 80% of the world’s 500 largest companies. This data is crucial in enabling governments, consumers, AND corporations themselves to make informed decisions and take on our current climate crisis. But for some reason, Amazon didn’t feel like joining the party.
It’s hard to imagine the scope of Amazon’s pollution. Its Prime Now one-hour delivery service has raised concerns in cities across the world for contributing to urban pollution problems. And even in its data centers, Amazon has a record of underreporting: Lux Research reported this year that Amazon’s Virginia-based cloud services were underreporting their use of coal electricity by almost 10 percent -- a difference of 85,000 metric tons of carbon a year.
We can’t put the brakes on irreversible climate change when corporate behemoths like Amazon are hiding their environmental impact out of the public’s eye. It’s going to take real corporate transparency to win this fight -- which is why it’s so important we come together now to shine a light on Amazon’s climate data and make sure it discloses its climate-related data.
Tell Amazon to join the other 80% of Global 500 companies and come clean about its climate pollution record.
More information
The Guardian. 12 September 2013.