Amazon? Sustainable? Think again.

An alarming Stand Research Group (SRG) investigation in 2024 found that Amazon emissions across its air, sea, and ground shipping and delivery increased more than 75% during the period 2019-2023 – from 3.33 million metric tons to an alarming 5.84 million metric tons of carbon. 

In July 2025, Amazon released its 2024 Sustainability Report. Instead of progress, the report showed Amazon’s pollution has skyrocketed, driven by its vast delivery empire and energy-hungry data centers.

This isn’t just bad news for our communities and climate: It’s also a wake-up call for Prime Members, who bankroll Amazon’s pollution with their monthly subscription fees. If Amazon won’t take responsibility on its own, then its most loyal customers have the power to force change.

 

1. Amazon’s Total Emissions Rose by 6% in 2024

After a brief dip in 2022-2023, Amazon’s emissions grew 6% in 2024. That’s the second-highest jump in the history of Amazon’s recorded pollution, just behind the company’s 2021 COVID surge. The numbers don’t lie: Amazon is still hooked on fossil fuels, and emissions reduction simply isn’t a priority for them.

2. Transportation Emissions Are Rising — Again

In 2024, despite promises of clean transportation, emissions from all legs of Amazon’s logistics network increased:

• Direct fuel use (i.e., from Amazon’s own trucks, planes, and vans): Up 7%
• Upstream shipping (i.e., getting goods to warehouses): Up 8%
• Downstream delivery (i.e., getting packages to customers): Up 6%

These trends show that Amazon’s delivery volume is growing faster than its efforts to cut pollution. The next-day delivery speed Prime Members pay for is causing even more pollution.

3. Transportation Now Makes Up Nearly 20% of Amazon’s Carbon Footprint

Nearly 1 in 5 tons of Amazon’s pollution comes from its fleets of fossil-fuel-burning planes, ships, trucks, and vans. That share is only growing. 

4. Amazon Is Underreporting Its True Climate Impact

Amazon leaves out pollution from its third-party Delivery Service Providers (DSPs), even though the GHG Protocol requires counting them. It also excludes emissions from “capital goods” and “purchased services.”

Amazon also omits emissions embedded in product supply chains and transportation under categories like “capital goods” and “purchased services.” These gaps make Amazon’s reporting non-compliant with GHG Protocol Scope 3 guidelines — and fall short of transparency standards followed by peers like Walmart and Target.

5. Amazon’s Sustainability Reporting Lacks Transparency

Amazon’s sustainability reporting is far from comprehensive. It fails to:

• Provide a full breakdown of Scope 1–3 emissions, especially transportation emissions by mode and carrier
• Report climate pollutants beyond carbon dioxide, like methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter
• Address the public health and racial justice impacts of its warehouse network
• Participate in independent climate accountability programs like the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) or the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)
• Require its suppliers to commit to zero-emission targets by 2030
• Establish clear public metrics to track progress on decarbonizing last-mile and maritime delivery

6. Amazon’s “Carbon Intensity” Claims Are a Misdirection

Amazon touts a 4% year-over-year reduction in “carbon intensity” (emissions per dollar of sales), but this is a distraction. Its absolute emissions still increased, because its business is growing faster than its pollution controls.

Saying you’re polluting less per dollar while polluting more overall isn’t climate leadership: it’s corporate spin. What matters is total emissions, and those are heading in the wrong direction.

 

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The Bottom Line: Customers’ Can Tip the Balance

Amazon continues to scale a business model rooted in air and climate pollution. But its future depends on keeping Prime customers happy. If even a small fraction of Prime Members speak up — demanding zero-emission delivery by 2030 — Amazon will have to listen.

Want sustainability? Don’t look to Amazon.