Jeff Bezos’s announcement of a $10bn fund to combat climate change is a welcome addition to other significant corporate commitments. These include recently announced multibillion-dollar plans to finance climate solutions by Goldman Sachs and BlackRock.
But Mr Bezos can also fund solutions within Amazon’s operations.
Amazon delivers more than 10bn items annually. The company’s “Climate Pledge” last September included purchase of 100,000 electric delivery vans geared to reduce emissions. However, most stuff arrives by ship before getting delivered by van.
Some 90 per cent of goods are transported by cargo ship. These huge vessels release greenhouse gas volumes on a par with the world’s largest countries. These overlooked emissions must be taken into account by companies tackling climate change.
The Paris agreement will fail unless cargo ships reduce emissions immediately and move shortly to zero emissions. Solutions already exist for zero-emission ships fuelled by hydrogen, ammonia, renewable electricity and wind power. But demand is needed to spur investment. Mr Bezos must leverage Amazon’s considerable demand to require that goods arrive on zero-emission ships by 2030.
Amazon has pledged to decarbonise on a faster time horizon than the Paris agreement, and promised billions to fund climate activists. But without zero-emission ships soon, we are all sunk.
Sue Libenson
Consultant, maritime, climate and natural resource policy,
Haines, AK, US
