Demonstration draws attention to 75% growth in Amazon’s transportation pollution during period 2019-2023

SEATTLE (Traditional Puget Sound Salish and Duwamish Lands) – On Tuesday morning, a coalition of youth climate leaders, calling themselves “Youth for Climate Justice,” brought sponges, squeegees, and banners to Amazon’s Seattle headquarters to wash the company’s windows — literally and figuratively. The creative demonstration called out Amazon for its lack of transparency on carbon emissions and climate commitments, especially as the company expands polluting operations tied to shipping, deliveries, and data centers.

On Wednesday, May 21, Amazon leadership will face shareholder resolutions demanding greater climate accountability at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) of shareholders. Today’s action spotlighted the growing pressure on the retail giant to come clean on the true climate impact of its operations. 

In recent years, Amazon has faced mounting criticism from environmental groups, investors, and even its own employees for its growing carbon footprint, particularly in air freight and maritime shipping, and for backtracking on earlier pledges to reduce emissions. In September 2024, a Stand Research Group (SRG) investigation revealed Amazon increased its emissions across its air, sea, and ground shipping and delivery more than 75% during the period 2019-2023 – from 3.33 million metric tons to an alarming 5.84 million metric tons of carbon. At the same time, the few commitments it has made, such as purchasing agreements for electric vehicles, fall far short of what climate and communities need. Last year, a survey of Amazon corporate workers found that over 60% of corporate workers believe Amazon is misrepresenting its climate impact to the public.

Participants scrubbed the front-facing glass of the headquarters and delivered a letter — to be published this week — addressed to Amazon executives outlining community and climate concerns.

“Amazon’s dirty windows conceal the company’s shameful climate record,” said Jim Ace, Stand.earth Senior Campaigner and Actions Manager. “Amazon hides the full picture of its pollution behind vague pledges and selective reporting. This lack of transparency is an obstacle to progress on emissions reductions. At this year’s AGM, investors have an opportunity to call on Amazon leadership to align their reporting with industry standards for a fuller picture of long-term risks to the company’s operations. Consumers also deserve to know what Amazon’s impact on climate progress is–and what the company is doing to fix it.”

“Amazon can’t claim to be a climate leader while hiding the true extent of its shipping pollution. Today, activists are on the ground cleaning Amazon’s windows to shine a light on the company’s lack of transparency and failure to live up to its Climate Pledge,” said Linda Nguyen, Corporate Climate Campaign Director for Pacific Environment and Ship It Zero spokesperson.

“We, the youth of today, are compelled to act because of Amazon’s lack of transparency and climate leadership. We demand Amazon take responsibility by acknowledging and sharing all their climate related data in their next sustainability report,” said Liam McKee, 14, Youth for Climate Justice Member.

• Photos and videos of the demonstration are available in this folder.

The demonstration draws attention to multiple areas where Amazon is falling short of its climate goals:

• Scope 3 Emissions: Despite being the largest source of the company’s climate footprint, Amazon does not comprehensively report its Scope 3 emissions — including the climate pollution from its vast network of suppliers, shipping partners, and AI data centers.
• AI’s Energy Demand: As Amazon Web Services races to dominate artificial intelligence infrastructure, climate and human rights groups are raising alarms about the massive energy and water use of new data centers, and the lack of transparency around their sourcing.
• Worker and Community Impacts: Multiple shareholder resolutions at this year’s AGM also highlight the company’s treatment of workers and the environmental burden placed on frontline communities near fulfillment centers, airports, and seaports.

SRG’s 2024 report reveals more details about the company’s climate recklessness:

• Amazon’s air freight pollution increased 67% from 2019 to 2023, with aviation contributing over 42% of the carbon footprint for U.S. package deliveries.
• Amazon’s delivery van pollution increased over 190% due to continued reliance on fossil fuel-powered vehicles.
• Amazon’s heavy-duty truck pollution jumped 51%, making trucks the second-largest source of shipping-related pollution.
• Amazon’s marine shipping pollution rose 26%, highlighting Amazon’s reliance on pollutive international shipping routes.

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ABOUT PACIFIC ENVIRONMENT
Pacific Environment confronts our most urgent environmental issues by connecting local and global movements, catalyzing policy change, and inspiring action for the benefit of people and our planet. Together, we promote a healthy climate, reduce pollution and conserve biodiversity for an equitable and thriving future.

ABOUT STAND.EARTH
Stand.earth is an international nonprofit environmental organization with offices in Canada and the United States that is known for its groundbreaking research and successful corporate and citizen engagement campaigns to create new policies and industry standards in protecting forests, advocating the rights of Indigenous peoples, and protecting the climate.

ABOUT SHIP IT ZERO

Ship It Zero is a climate and public health campaign to move the world’s largest retail companies to 100% zero-emission ocean shipping. We are pushing corporations to take responsibility for their ocean shipping pollution and lead the way to climate-friendly, clean-air shipping practices.