Emissions from the online shopping boom

As last year’s lockdowns drove online spending to new heights, Amazon’s carbon emissions grew 18% from the year before, according to the company’s latest sustainability report.

What happened: Since Amazon made a big climate pledge and started reporting emissions publicly in 2019, its pollution has grown by double digits year to year, and 40% in total. 

As the world’s second-largest retailer (after Walmart), Amazon is often criticized for things from the environmental cost of its ultra-fast shipping to its packaging and delivery routes.

But before you let those scary numbers put a damper on your Prime Day Roomba purchase, Amazon’s Vice President of Sustainability wants you to know the company’s “carbon intensity”—emissions against merchandise sales dollars—decreased slightly by 1.9%.

Yes, but: Rather than cut pollution, Amazon’s climate plans focus on reducing its emissions through buying credits from low-emitting companies and carbon offsets like tree-planting. 

  • Amazon also undercounts how much pollution it’s responsible for—unlike some companies, it doesn’t include emissions from making many products it sells.

Why it matters: As one of the world’s biggest retailers—it has over two million Prime members in Canada alone—Amazon could set an example for other companies aiming to help tackle climate change, but their current approach is not yet yielding results.