Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge as a commitment to reach net-zero carbon by 2040. We made this commitment because we believe we have a role to play to help address the climate crisis. For the organisation I work in that means making sure sustainability is foundational to how we build and design all of our devices and services.
We were the first consumer electronics manufacturer to take responsibility for the electricity used by our devices by investing in renewable energy, including wind and solar farms. Since then, we have continued to incorporate recycled post-consumer plastics, fabrics and metals into many of our newest Amazon devices. This continues with newly announced devices like Kindle Scribe, Echo Dot, and Fire TV Cube.
We’ve also continued to send automatic, over-the-air updates to our existing devices to make sure they stay useful for customers—because according to our recent research peer-reviewed and presented at the European Conference on Safety and Reliability, building devices that last longer for customers can significantly reduce that product’s carbon footprint.
But we have a responsibility to lead and do more. So, I’m excited to share some updates about the hard work and invention our teams have done—and continue to do—as we march toward our sustainability goals.
Teaming up with industry peers to tackle climate impact of internet-connected devices
We recently announced our shared commitment to decarbonise the emissions associated with internet-connected devices alongside Meta, Microsoft, Samsung, and Sky.
Led by the Carbon Trust, a global climate consultancy driven by the mission to accelerate the move to a decarbonised future, we formed a secretariat to develop the industry’s first specification that will give guidance for the use-phase of internet connected devices. Together, we have the potential to accelerate the consumer electronic industry’s transition to net zero carbon. We believe this is an important step forward and encourage more manufacturers in the industry to join us in this effort.
More Climate Pledge Friendly products
Amazon launched the Climate Pledge Friendly programme to help make it easy for customers to discover and shop for more-sustainable products by labelling products that have one or more sustainability certifications.
For our devices, we’ve partnered with trusted third-party certifications and created our own certification, Compact by Design, to highlight products that meet our sustainability standards, including previously launched devices like Echo Show 15, Fire TV Stick, and Kindle Paperwhite. Today, we’re excited to announce new products that received the Climate Pledge Friendly badge, including the Alexa Voice Remote Pro, Echo Dot, Echo Dot with clock, Echo Dot Kids, Fire TV Cube and Kindle Scribe.
Inventing recyclable device packaging
We know we must use our size and scale for good, and that includes adopting more sustainable practices, from the materials we use to build devices to how they are packaged. That’s why in 2020, we set an ambitious goal to make Amazon device packaging recyclable by 2023, a first for the consumer electronics industry.
This month we announced Kindle, Kindle Kids, and Fire HD 8 tablets will each come in widely recyclable device packaging. And, today we announced additional devices that also come in widely recyclable device packaging: Alexa Voice Remote Pro, Echo Dot, Echo Dot with clock, Echo Dot Kids, Fire TV Cube, Kindle Scribe, and Ring Spotlight Cam Pro.
Meeting our recyclable device packaging commitment was a key priority, but we needed to ensure devices were protected as they shipped, and that we maintained the great out-of-the-box experience for customers. So, we worked with our suppliers to develop paper-based wraps and films that would protect the devices and still be compatible with recycling streams.
For devices like Echo Dot, we no longer use any wrap around the device—instead it has a corrugated piece so you can still easily pull the device out of the box. The Kindle and Kindle Kids device packaging is made of 100% wood-fibre based materials from responsibly managed forests or recycled sources, utilising an integrated tear seal to open the box, rather than a sticker tear seal. And, for Ring Spotlight Cam Pro, we developed a paper-based battery insulator that went through rigorous testing to ensure it transported in excellent condition for customers.
Learn more about how we’re working to reinvent and simplify our outbound packaging as well.
Making existing devices better
Amazon has a long track record of building devices that are deeply integrated with services. We’re incentivised by our customer obsession to ensure that our services make Amazon devices customers already own increasingly delightful, and useful, for years. We’re also motivated to keep making customers’ existing devices more efficient—including by launching Low Power Mode, which we’ve now rolled out to a majority of Echo and Fire TV devices. Low Power Mode is a feature that reduces a device’s lifetime energy consumption by using less power during periods of inactivity.
While we are proud of this progress, we know there is so much more work to do. We are energised by the inventive solutions that will be required to address these challenges in front of us and what we are determined to deliver in the future.
Read more about Amazon’s newest devices, services and features.
