How is Amazon Reducing its Emissions With EV Deployment?
Amazon increased its EV fleet from 19,000 to 31,000 in one year according to its 2024 Sustainability Report.
The rise came despite an increase in the company's overall GHG emissions.
Despite this increase, the report also highlighted the company’s initiatives to mitigate negative environmental impacts through its ESG strategies - in particular, further deployment of EVs.
“Looking ahead, we recognise that the path to being a more sustainable company will never be linear, because we’re charting new territory at an unprecedented scale,” says Kara Hurst, Chief Sustainability Officer at Amazon, in the report.
“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.
“No matter what we’re faced with in the future, we’ll remain steadfast in our commitment to sustainability and will continue to invest, innovate and obsess over our progress each year, with the same intensity and focus that has defined Amazon from Day One.”
Reducing carbon through EV deployment
Amazon is committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2040, although emissions rose from 64.38 MTCO₂e in 2023 to 68.25 MTCO₂e in 2024.
Despite the increase, emission efficiency improved as carbon dioxide equivalent per dollar of gross merchandise sales fell from 75.6g CO₂e/$GMS to 72.6g CO₂e/$GMS.
The company's journey to revamp its vehicle fleet includes ambitious electrification goals.
By 2030, Amazon plans to have at least 100,000 electric delivery vans in operation.
Progress on this goal was made in 2024, with EV numbers increasing from roughly 19,000 to more than 31,000.
In India, Amazon has achieved its 2025 target of deploying 10,000 electric vehicles ahead of schedule.
Energy consumption shifts
In addition to EV deployment, Amazon is transitioning to renewable energy sources.
Matching 100% of its electricity use with renewables in 2023 set a precedent that continued into 2024.
It met its goal of deploying 10,000 EVs in India by 2025 and has matched 100% of energy used by all active Echo, Fire TV and Ring devices worldwide with operational wind and solar capacity.
Through The Climate Pledge, co-founded by Amazon in 2019, the company hopes to inspire and empower others to join the company’s goal of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2040.
In 2024, the number of signatories to the Pledge rose to 549.
Sally Fouts, Director of The Climate Pledge at Amazon, said on LinkedIn: “As a co-founder and signatory of The Climate Pledge, Amazon has helped build a framework for collective action and accountability.
“Reporting like this is a reminder that progress isn’t always linear—but it is essential. When businesses measure and report openly, they create clarity, trust and momentum for others to follow.”
AWS (Amazon Web Services) data centres achieved global power usage effectiveness of 1.15 compared to the industry average of 1.25.
Waste reduction and circular initiatives
Amazon is also putting emphasis on efforts to decrease waste and promote circularity.
In 2024, this included the complete elimination of plastic air pillows, swapping them for recyclable paper fillers. In doing so the business achieved a 16.4% reduction in single-use plastic packaging.
Landfill diversion has also improved to 85%, continuing upward from previous years.
Amazon is targeting a 50% reduction in food waste by 2030 while also supporting communities with 81 million meals donated in 2024.
Water is another focus area for the business with a new goal set in 2024 to return more water to communities in India than it uses in all direct operations by 2027.
In AWS, the company aims to be water positive by 2030 and has made 53% progress toward meeting this goal.
