Header image courtesy of Amazon
Amazon has presented its latest sustainability scorecard, and the numbers are impressive. The online retail giant boasts renewable energy projects that can power 6.7 million US homes.
The company has invested in 78 new renewable energy projects this year alone, comprising solar and wind, in 26 countries and 21 states in the US. These include its first such project in South Korea.
In total, Amazon has 479 wind and solar projects globally, which can produce more than 71,900 GWh per annum. The American company has directly and indirectly contributed $12 billion in investment in the global economy since 2014 through renewable energy. It generated 39,000 full-time equivalent jobs last year alone.
Amazon aims to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2025. It is converting a coal mine site from a brownfield to a solar farm in Maryland, US, and has announced a wind energy project in South Korea that will create about 2,400 jobs during construction.
“Amazon’s investments in solar and wind projects are helping power our operations, while also providing new sources of clean energy to the grid, spurring economic growth, and supporting jobs in the communities where our customers live and work,” said Adam Selipsky, CEO of AWS. “More than 90% of our operations were powered by renewables last year, but we’re not done. We’re focused on continuing to find innovative ways to bring new projects online, address grid constraints, and work with policymakers to mitigate the impacts of climate change, all of which is helping Amazon move closer to achieving 100% renewable energy by 2025.”
Renewable Brief 