Amazon’s greenhouse gas emissions rose by 6% last year, due mostly to pollution generated by the company’s delivery fleet and increased data center construction.
The jump in total carbon emissions from 64.38 million metric tons in 2023 to 68.25 million metric tons in 2024 is the company’s first year-over-year increase since 2021, according to a sustainability report released by Amazon on Wednesday. Amazon has reported its sustainability efforts annually since 2019, when it pledged to effectively zero out its carbon emissions by 2040.
The company’s carbon emissions peaked in 2021, when it reported 71.54 million metric tons. Over the two years that followed, Amazon was able to decrease indirect emissions — those created by electricity the company purchases for its buildings and electric vehicles, and the emissions created by data center construction and third-party shipping. Critics have picked at the company for not including emissions produced by the sellers creating products for Amazon’s marketplace.
Amazon’s direct emissions, those produced primarily by its own transportation and logistics operations, have steadily increased since 2019.
One of the company’s biggest efforts toward decreasing emissions has been to outfit its delivery fleet with electric vehicles. Amazon has an investment deal with Rivian, in which the EV maker is creating tens of thousands of custom delivery vans for the e-commerce giant. Amazon reported Wednesday that it had more than 31,400 electric vans deployed globally.
But as Amazon increases the amount of electric vehicles it operates, it’s also expanding its logistics network. The company announced earlier this year it was pushing into rural areas to increase delivery speeds for those living away from urban centers.
Last year emissions increased across the board. Emissions from electricity rose 1% as the company had higher energy usage due to “advanced technologies.”
The artificial intelligence boom comes with a growing energy cost. Increased electricity and computing demand due to the technology has Amazon and other tech giants like Google and Microsoft thirsty for power sources as they build out AI infrastructure.
Amazon itself plans to spend $100 billion on its data center and delivery operations this year. Microsoft said it was on track over the past year to spend $80 billion, mostly on its AI infrastructure.
Like other companies, Amazon acknowledges that its AI push is creating challenges for its sustainability goals. Kara Hurst, the company’s chief sustainability officer, said in the report that the company is working to mitigate the enormous energy cost of AI. Among those efforts are Amazon’s first investments in nuclear energy.
Six years into its net zero carbon goal, Amazon’s emissions are up more than 33%, with its deadline slowly approaching in 2040.
Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, the group that spurred the company’s climate pledge in 2019, ripped this year’s sustainability report and accused Amazon of hiding coal and gas energy sources.
In a news release Wednesday, the group said Amazon’s claim that it matches 100% of “electricity consumed in all data center regions with renewable energy sources” was misleading.
“A breakdown of local energy generation in regions that are home to over 70% of Amazon’s US data centers shows that much of Amazon’s data center electricity comes from gas, and utilities are developing new fossil fuel infrastructure to support the demand from Amazon’s data centers,” the climate group said.
The group also supported a shareholder proposal earlier this year that urged Amazon to create an additional report on the increased energy demand from AI. Shareholders struck it down.
“Looking ahead, we recognize that the path to being a more sustainable company will never be linear, because we’re charting new territory at an unprecedented scale,” Hurst said. “While we are firm on our goals, our approach will continuously evolve with emerging challenges and opportunities, as we’re seeing with the rapid adoption of AI.”
A highlight for Amazon in the report, which it emphasized along with rising emissions, is its steadily decreasing carbon intensity. As Amazon’s revenue grows, the amount of emissions per dollar is falling. The company reported a 4% reduction last year.
