Amazon and Global Optimism announced that more than 300 companies have now signed The Climate Pledge, an increase in signatories of nearly 600 percent over the past year. The nearly 100 new signatories include the world’s largest container shipping company Maersk, leading enterprise software developer SAP, North American lumber company Weyerhaeuser, the largest residential solar company in the U.S., Sunrun, and leading connected car and audio brand Harman. Clif Bar and Sport-Thieme GmbH were also amongst the most recent additions. The Pledge’s signatories collectively generate more than $3.5 trillion in annual global sales and employ more than 8 million people in 51 industries in 29 countries.
The Climate Pledge also welcomes several companies that have previously received investments through the $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund, Amazon’s proprietary venture capital fund that invests in companies that can help accelerate a path to meeting the Climate Pledge.
Those companies include BETA Technologies, an electric aerospace company, and Infinium, a renewable fuels technology company, both of which aim to support efforts to decarbonize the global transportation sector. The sector was responsible for about 7.3 billion metric tons of carbon emissions in 2020. Nearly 13 percent of signatories come from the transportation, aviation and logistics sectors, which is an important signal that demand for products and services that help reduce carbon emissions in this important sector will grow rapidly. In addition, new signatory company Pachama, in which the Climate Pledge Fund has invested, brings quality, transparency and scale to nature-based carbon markets. Pachama uses remote sensing and machine learning to measure and monitor carbon stored in forests over time, enabling organizations and individuals to reliably offset their emissions by supporting reforestation and forest conservation projects.
The latest announcement underscores the findings of the recent United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which highlighted the need for immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, invest in natural climate solutions to limit warming to just under 1.5 degrees Celsius, and mitigate damage.
In 2019, Amazon and Global Optimism co-founded The Climate Pledge, a commitment to reach the Paris Agreement 10 years early and be carbon-free by 2040. Since then, 312 organizations have signed The Climate Pledge, sending an important signal that demand for products and services that help reduce carbon emissions will grow rapidly. For more information, including on all 95 new signatories and the actions they are taking to decarbonize their businesses, visit The Climate Pledge website.
