Tech giant Amazon is “moving the wrong way” on climate, according to NGO Stand.earth, which expressed concerns following the company’s sixth annual sustainability report. Per the report, Amazon’s Scope 1 emissions, which include transportation, saw 7% year-on-year growth. Stand.earth argues that Amazon’s 2040 net-zero pledge is “too little, too late”, and its commitment to 100,000 electric vehicles by 2030 insufficient, given the firm’s large fleet of fossil-fuel powered machines. The NGO also underscored that Amazon was “backpedalling on its weak existing promises”, such as the cancellation of its Shipment Zero pledge Iast year. The firm’s shipping and logistics operations have been linked to premature death, heart attacks, respiratory disorders, and asthma among its employees. It has also so far failed to follow through on its pledge to submit a detailed plan to reduce climate pollution through the Science-Based Targets Initiative. “In this year’s sustainability report, Amazon leaders had an opportunity to show us that they are finally getting serious about the climate. Instead, the report shows [the company] is moving the wrong way,” said Joshua Archer, Senior Global Corporate Campaigner at Stand.earth. “The company is hoping its weak long-term promises will distract from its continued expansion of polluting planes, trucks, and vans.” Amazon has also come under fire for the treatment of its employees in recent years, which have resulted in renewed efforts to form unions within its workforce. Last week, more than 3,000 workers at the company’s Coventry warehouse were due to vote for the first time on whether to be represented by a trade union for collective bargaining on rights and pay.
