Amazon becomes Europe's largest buyer of renewable energy

Amazon now has nine new utility-scale wind and solar energy projects in the U.S., Canada, Spain, Sweden, and the U.K. This brings the company’s total renewable energy projects to 206 globally, including 71 utility-scale wind and solar projects and 135 solar rooftops on facilities and stores worldwide, which will generate 8.5 GW of electricity production capacity globally. This now makes Amazon the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in Europe, with more than 2.5 GW of renewable energy capacity, enough to power more than two million European homes a year.

These projects supply renewable energy to Amazon’s corporate offices, fulfillment centers, Whole Foods Market stores, and Amazon Web Services data centers, which power Amazon and millions of AWS customers globally. The renewable energy from these projects also helps Amazon meet its commitment to produce the clean energy equivalent to the electricity used by all consumer Echo devices. All of these projects put Amazon on a path to power 100 percent of its activities with renewable energy by 2025—five years ahead of the original target of 2030. Investing in renewable energy is one of the many actions Amazon is taking as part of The Climate Pledge, a commitment to be net-zero carbon by 2040, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement.

“Amazon continues to scale up its investments in renewable energy as part of its effort to meet The Climate Pledge, our commitment to be net-zero carbon by 2040,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, in a statement. “With these nine new wind and solar projects, we have announced 206 renewable wind and solar projects worldwide, and we are now the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in Europe and globally. Many parts of our business are already operating on renewable energy, and we expect to power all of Amazon with renewable energy by 2025—five years ahead of our original target of 2030.”

The nine new wind and solar projects announced today in the U.S., Canada, Spain, Sweden, and the U.K. include Amazon’s first solar project paired with energy storage allows the company to align solar generation with the greatest demand in California’s Imperial Valley, their first renewable project in Canada, the largest corporate renewable energy project in the U.K., new projects in the U.S., specifically in Oklahoma and Ohio, and additional investments in Spain and Sweden.

“Amazon is a leader in renewable energy buying and is continuously changing the market through continuous innovation and investments in renewable energy. We are thrilled to see Amazon’s latest commitments around the world including in Spain, Sweden, and the UK. Long-term investments like these are crucial to companies moving closer to climate neutrality,” said Hannah Hunt, impact director of RE-Source, a corporate renewable energy sourcing platform in Europe, in a statement.

“Amazon continues to play a key role leading the corporate transition to renewable power worldwide and demonstrating that ambitious renewable targets are both achievable and widely beneficial,” said Gregory Wetstone, president and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), in a statement. “The company’s nine new clean energy projects bring them to an impressive record total of 8.5 gigawatts of global renewable capacity and include Amazon’s first solar plus storage project, using advanced technology to help deliver a clean, reliable grid.”

“Leading companies like Amazon know the value that solar can bring to their businesses and the planet,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), in a statement. “We’re thrilled to see that Amazon is following through on its climate commitments and is investing in renewable energy assets across the world. Wall Street, customers, and international businesses are all watching what American companies are doing about climate change, and this type of leadership can have a major impact on 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 53 signatories, including IBM, Unilever, 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 percent 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 percent net-zero carbon by 2030; purchasing 100,000 electric delivery vehicles, the largest order ever of electric delivery vehicles; and by investing 2 billion dollars in the development of decarbonizing services and solutions through the Climate Pledge Fund.