Amazon Becomes Largest Corporate Buyer of Renewable Energy in the U.S.

Rhea-AI Summary

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has launched 14 new renewable energy projects in the U.S., Canada, Finland, and Spain, aiming to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2025. This initiative accelerates their goal by five years, and their total renewable energy capacity now stands at 10 GW, enough to power 2.5 million U.S. homes. This expansion includes Amazon's first solar projects in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania, as well as the largest solar farm in Canada. The move will support job creation and demonstrate Amazon's commitment to tackling climate change.

Positive

• New renewable energy projects increase total capacity to 10 GW, powering 2.5 million U.S. homes.
• Achieving 100% renewable energy target five years ahead of schedule (2025).
• Expansion supports job creation and community investments.

Negative

• None.

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced 14 new renewable energy projects in the U.S., Canada, Finland, and Spain to advance its ambitious goal to power 100% of company activities with renewable energy by 2025—five years ahead of the original target of 2030. The new projects bring Amazon’s total renewable energy investments to date to 10 gigawatts (GW) of electricity production capacity—enough to power 2.5 million U.S. homes. Amazon is now the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in the U.S. and the world.

The latest utility-scale solar and wind projects will supply renewable energy for Amazon’s corporate offices, fulfillment centers, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers that support millions of customers globally. These projects will also help Amazon meet its commitment to produce enough renewable energy to cover the electricity used by all Echo devices in use. These new projects support hundreds of jobs while providing hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in local communities.

“We’re driving hard to fulfill The Climate Pledge—our commitment to reach net-zero carbon by 2040, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO. “Our investments in wind and solar energy in the U.S. and around the world send a signal that investing in green technologies is the right thing to do for the planet and citizens—as well as for the long-term success of businesses of all sizes across all industries everywhere.”

Amazon will now have a total of 232 renewable energy projects globally, including 85 utility-scale wind and solar projects and 147 solar rooftops on facilities and stores worldwide. The 14 new wind and solar projects in the U.S., Canada, Finland, and Spain include:

• New projects across the U.S.: The 11 U.S.-based projects announced today include Amazon’s first solar projects in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania, and additional projects in Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. In total, Amazon has enabled more than 6 GW of renewable energy in the U.S. through 54 projects.
• Our largest renewable energy project in Canada: Amazon’s second renewable energy project in Alberta is a 375-megawatt (MW) solar farm—which is also the largest in the country. When it comes online in 2022, the solar farm will bring Amazon’s capacity in Canada to more than 1 million megawatt hours (MWh), enough to power more than 100,000 Canadian homes.
• Our first renewable energy project in Finland: Amazon’s first project in Finland is a 52-MW wind farm located near the country’s west coast. The project is expected to begin producing energy in 2022.
• Additional investments in Spain: Amazon’s fifth solar project in Spain will generate 152 MW when it begins contributing power to the grid in 2023, bringing total capacity in the country to more than 520 MW.

To see Amazon’s renewable energy projects around the world, visit our interactive map.

“Amazon’s commitment to clean energy is highly commendable, and it is the type of investment that we need to see more of to meet the world’s critical energy and climate needs,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). “It is becoming increasingly clear that corporations such as Amazon see solar and other renewable resources as the path forward to meet their energy and business needs, and we stand ready to support Amazon and other companies of all sizes in their decisions to go solar.”

“A new level of ambition across the private sector is necessary to accelerate decarbonization of the power system. Amazon’s leadership in investing and adopting renewable energy around the world paves the way for new innovation, and the ability to scale at the pace needed to address the real threats to the planet, people, and businesses posed by climate change,” said Miranda Ballentine, CEO of Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA).

“With an impressive 10 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity now in its portfolio, and a path to reach its 100% renewable energy target five years ahead of schedule, Amazon continues to walk the walk when it comes to corporate clean energy leadership,” said Gregory Wetstone, president and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE). “The renewable projects the company announced today will provide communities with good-paying jobs and the affordable, pollution-free power we need to combat the climate crisis.”

Amazon and Global Optimism co-founded The Climate Pledge in 2019, a commitment to reach the Paris Agreement 10 years early and be net-zero carbon by 2040. The Pledge now has 108 signatories, including IBM, Unilever, PepsiCo, Visa, Verizon, Siemens, Microsoft, and Best Buy. To reach its goal, Amazon will continue to reduce emissions across its operations by taking real business actions and establishing a path to power its operations with 100% renewable energy, five years ahead of the company’s original target of 2030; delivering its Shipment Zero vision to make all shipments net-zero carbon, with 50% net-zero carbon by 2030; purchasing 100,000 electric delivery vehicles, the largest order ever of electric delivery vehicles; and by investing $2 billion in the development of decarbonizing services and solutions through the Climate Pledge Fund. For more information, visit https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Amazon strives to be Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company, Earth’s Best Employer, and Earth’s Safest Place to Work. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Career Choice, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Just Walk Out technology, Amazon Studios, and The Climate Pledge are some of the things pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

About Amazon Web Services

For 15 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS has been continually expanding its services to support virtually any cloud workload, and it now has more than 200 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), media, and application development, deployment, and management from 81 Availability Zones (AZs) within 25 geographic regions, with announced plans for 21 more Availability Zones and seven more AWS Regions in Australia, India, Indonesia, Israel, Spain, Switzerland, and United Arab Emirates. Millions of customers—including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies—trust AWS to power their infrastructure, become more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit aws.amazon.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210623005093/en/

FAQ

What new renewable energy projects has Amazon announced?

Amazon announced 14 new renewable energy projects across the U.S., Canada, Finland, and Spain.

What is Amazon's renewable energy target date?

Amazon aims to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2025, five years earlier than the original 2030 goal.

How much renewable energy capacity does Amazon currently have?

Amazon's total renewable energy capacity is now 10 gigawatts (GW).

Where are Amazon's new renewable energy projects located?

The new projects are located in the U.S., Canada, Finland, and Spain.

What impact do Amazon's renewable energy investments have?

The investments will support job creation and provide affordable, clean energy to communities.