Amazon just rolled out a new ‘Climate Pledge Friendly’ label geared at helping customers find and purchase products that are more eco-friendly. The world’s largest online retailer recently announced that more than 25,000 products on its site have already been labeled with the badge to indicate that the items have attained one or more of the 19 sustainability certifications that “help preserve the natural world, such as reducing the carbon footprint of shipments to customers.”
According to the release, Amazon’s selection of earth-friendly products ranges from groceries to beauty and fashion, and even personal electronic products, naming brands like Seventh Generation and HP Inc.
“Climate Pledge Friendly products are clearly labeled in shopping results, have additional sustainability information on the product page, and are featured in a dedicated section of our store. Amazon has partnered with trusted third-party certifications, and customers will be able to discover sustainable products that meet sustainability standards that help preserve the natural world,” the company stated.
“Climate Pledge Friendly is a simple way for customers to discover more sustainable products that help preserve the natural world,” said Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.
The company also unveiled a new Compact by Design certification, a “new externally-validated certification” that highlights products with more efficient designs. “With 18 external certification programs and our own Compact by Design certification, we’re incentivizing selling partners to create sustainable products that help protect the planet for future generations,” said Bezos.
Amazon, which Reuters reported “delivers about 10 billion items a year,” has faced backlash over its carbon-heavy operations from environmentalists, as well as from its own employees. A 2019 Morgan Stanley analysis revealed that Amazon already delivered around half of its U.S. packages and is expected to “reach a volume of 6.5 billion packages per year by 2022, far exceeding its estimate for UPS at 5 billion packages per year and FedEx at 3.4 billion packages per year.” That’s a lot of boxes.
The company has since announced a string of major environmental initiatives including The Climate Pledge, a promise to reach net-zero carbon in 2040–10 years in advance of the Paris Agreement– as well as a $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund that will invest in companies leading the transition to a greener future. Additionally, Amazon announced earlier this year several new solar projects and last year, as part of its Climate Pledge announcement, revealed it would purchase 100,000 electric delivery trucks from Rivian.