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 can’t let Amazon get away with hiding its secret pollution.
Protect our planet from secret pollution and call on Amazon to release its climate records.
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. It’s 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 know that when climate heroes come together globe to challenge corporations to do better by our planet, big things can happen. That’s why we need to mobilize now to tell Amazon we won’t be fooled by its two-faced pollution record. In order to put the brakes on irreversible climate change, we need to protect our planet from Amazon’s secret pollution.
Tell Amazon to join the other 80% of Global 500 companies and disclose its climate-related data.
More information
The Guardian. 12 September 2016.