Amazon investing in 274 renewable energy projects globally

Amazon on Wednesday announced 18 new utility-scale wind and solar energy projects across the US, Finland, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK, totaling 5.6 gigawatts (GW) of procured capacity to date in 2021. Amazon now has 274 renewable energy projects globally and is on a path to power 100 per cent of its business operations with renewable energy by 2025—five years earlier than its original 2030 commitment.

These new utility-scale wind and solar projects bring Amazon’s total committed renewable electricity production capacity to more than 12 GW and 33,700 gigawatt hours (GWh) when the projects become fully operational, or electricity output equivalent to powering more than 3 million US homes for a year.

The 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. The projects will also help Amazon meet its commitment to produce the clean energy equivalent of the electricity used by all consumer Echo devices. The amount of clean energy produced by these projects will avoid the equivalent of the annual emissions of nearly 3 million cars in the US each year, or about 13.7 million metric tons.

“We are moving quickly and deliberately to reduce our carbon emissions and address the climate crisis,” said Kara Hurst, vice president of worldwide sustainability at Amazon. “Significant investments in renewable energy globally are an important step in delivering on The Climate Pledge, our commitment to reach net-zero carbon by 2040, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement. Renewable energy projects also bring new investment, green jobs, and advance the decarbonization of the electricity systems in communities around the world.”

Following today’s announcement, Amazon is the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in the world, with 274 global projects including 105 utility-scale wind and solar projects and 169 solar rooftops on facilities and stores worldwide. The 18 new wind and solar projects announced today include.