Online distribution giant Amazon has often been in the eye of the storm lately because of the poor working conditions for its staff. Yet the company seems to realise that it has to make an effort in the area of sustainability.

It announced on Tuesday 23 June the creation of a $2 billion investment fund to finance companies that will help achieve a “zero carbon economy”. Of course, this is positive news, but on the other hand, it is also about “peanuts”, since the stock market value of Amazon has risen by some $400 billion since the beginning of this year despite corona.

The now established Climate Pledge Fund should, according to the company, enable the development of technologies and services that will enable Amazon and other companies to become carbon neutral by 2040, the company said in a statement. This is no small challenge as Amazon manages a huge logistics network around the world for its deliveries, and has also developed a cloud computing offering based on highly energy-intensive storage for servers. However, the group committed to achieving carbon neutrality last year.

Although climate organisations therefore remain sceptical, Amazon seems to be serious with an investment fund that, according to the distribution giant, will invest in companies in various sectors such as transport, logistics, storage and energy use, but also production and materials, the circular economy and the agro-food sector.

In the Sustainability Commitments Report of 2019, Amazon also says it anticipates its original plan to use only renewable energy.

More info: www.amazon.com