Pressured by Green Century Proposal, Amazon* Commits to Cut Delivery Emissions by 50% by 2030
Contact: Kyle W. Kempf, Green Century Capital Management, kkempf@greencentury.com, 617-482-0800
BOSTON, March 4, 2019 – Green Century withdrew its shareholder proposal with Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon), following the announcement of its new emission reduction initiative, "Shipment Zero."
Amazon's first concrete commitment to reducing its carbon footprint, Shipment Zero commits the company to carbon neutrality for half of its package deliveries by 2030, with a broader vision for entirely carbon neutral deliveries in the future. Amazon also announced that it would publicly disclose its company-wide carbon footprint by the end of 2019.
In 2017, Amazon shipped more than 5 billion packages through its Prime program alone.
Amazon said its efforts to ultimately reach carbon neutrality with its deliveries will be aided by its investments in electric vehicles, aviation biofuels, and renewable energy; and also hinted towards other goals and programs that will accompany its carbon footprint disclosure.
"Amazon really delivered on our request that it begin tracking and reducing its carbon footprint, so we were more than happy to withdraw our proposal," said Green Century President Leslie Samuelrich. "Amazon's new commitment is a prime example of how corporations can respond to investor concerns and address investor, reputational, and environmental risk."
Green Century filed a shareholder proposal with Amazon in December of 2018, asking the company to adopt quantitative goals to manage its greenhouse gas emissions and report on its plans for achieving the targets. Green Century discussed the request with Amazon representatives later that month.
"I think this announcement demonstrates that Amazon recognizes the growing clamor in the investor community to address climate change," said Green Century Shareholder Advocate Jared Fernandez. "As the window for avoiding the worst effects of climate change continues to shrink, these efforts are instrumental in the global effort to avoid calamity."
According to a 2018 report by the United Nations Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change, the world must reduce greenhouse gas emissions 45% by 2030 and reach net zero emissions by 2050 in order to limit average global temperature rise to 1.5°C and avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.
Green Century is the first family of fossil fuel free, responsible, and diversified mutual funds in the United States. Green Century invests in sustainable companies, hosts an award-winning and in-house shareholder advocacy program, and is the only mutual fund company in the United States wholly owned by environmental and public health nonprofit organizations.
*As of December 31, 2018, no securities mentioned were held in any of the portfolios of the Green Century Funds. References to specific securities, which will change due to ongoing management of the Funds, should not be construed as a recommendation by the Funds, their administrator, or their distributor.
Posted in Press Releases and tagged #ESG, #SRI, Amazon, carbon footprint, carbon neutrality, Green Century, impact investing, shareholder advocacy, United Nations Intergovernmental Planel on Climate Change