Amazon Sets New Record in 2022 For Renewable Energy Purchases

Amazon Renewable Energy

(Credit: Canva Pro)

by | Jan 31, 2023

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Amazon Renewable Energy

(Credit: Canva Pro)

Amazon set a new record in 2022 for renewable energy purchases. The company grew its renewable energy capacity by 8.3 gigawatts (GW) through 133 new projects in 11 countries. This brings Amazon’s total portfolio to more than 20 GW—that could generate the amount of energy to power 5.3 million U.S. homes—across 401 renewable energy projects in 22 countries. The company’s renewable energy purchases continue to add new wind and solar projects on the grids that power Amazon’s operations, including Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers, Amazon fulfillment centers, and physical stores around the world.

Renewable Energy

The company remains the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy—a position it’s held since 2020, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Amazon’s continued investment in renewable energy helps to accelerate growth in new regions through innovative deal structures, technologies, and cloud solutions.

Amazon is also a leader in developing on-site wind and solar projects for its fulfillment centers across North America and Europe. These projects bring more than $2 billion in new capital investment into the communities where they are built, helping cities achieve their carbon goals while creating local jobs and training opportunities for the next generation of clean energy workers.

In addition to purchasing renewable energy directly from utility providers around the world, Amazon supports clean energy through activities like Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) which allow companies to purchase carbon offsets from renewable energy producers who have surplus RECs above their own direct needs; these RECs can then be sold into the secondary market by other parties or used by buyers as part of their compliance with state mandates or corporate sustainability goals.

“As we continue to launch new renewable energy projects around the world, we’re pleased to be on track to power our operations with 100% renewable energy, five years ahead of our original target. With 133 projects in 11 countries announced in 2022, Amazon had another record year,” said Adam Selipsky, CEO of AWS. “These projects highlight the diversity of our renewable energy sources and showcase our ability to bring new technologies to new markets and further reduce the impacts of climate change.”

New Projects and Initiatives

In 2022 alone, Amazon announced new projects in Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Poland, Singapore, Spain, and the U.S., and broke ground in Brazil, India, and Indonesia. With 25 new renewable energy projects secured to close out the year, the company now has 401 projects globally: 164 wind farms and solar farms and 237 rooftop solar projects on Amazon facilities around the world. Once operational, Amazon’s global renewable energy projects are expected to generate 56,881 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of clean energy each year—enough to power more than 3 million average U.S. homes annually.

These purchases also bring Amazon closer to powering its operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025—five years ahead of its original 2030 target.

While Amazon has been scaling up its use of renewable energy over the past several years, this announcement marks an important milestone for the company as well as for the industry at large. Rapidly scaling renewable energy is one of the most effective strategies to fight climate change — it helps reduce emissions from electricity grids while also creating economic opportunities in communities across the globe.

This announcement comes on the heels of another major milestone: Amazon’s recent launch of Emissions First, a coalition that aims to modernize the world’s leading carbon-accounting standard so it can better support businesses like Amazon as they scale up their use of clean energy.

“Amidst the market uncertainty of 2022, Amazon led clean energy buyers and doubled down on its commitment to renewable energy,” said Miranda Ballentine, CEO of Clean Energy Buyers Association (CEBA). “Amazon’s commitment to decarbonization is demonstrated through its leading placement on CEBA’s Deal Tracker Top 10, within our member community, and on a global scale.”

Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge in 2019, committing to reach net-zero carbon by 2040—10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement. The Pledge now has nearly 400 signatories, including Best Buy, IBM, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Siemens, Unilever, Verizon, and Visa. Amazon continues to transform its transportation network, including electrifying its delivery fleet and sourcing alternatives to fossil fuels—it currently has thousands of electric delivery vehicles from Rivian in more than 100 cities and regions in the U.S., more than 3,000 electric vans delivering packages to customers in Europe, and several electric vehicle partnerships in APAC. The company is also investing $2 billion in the development of decarbonizing services and solutions through The Climate Pledge Fund.

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