At Amazon, we are always looking for ways to make our business more sustainable as we work to meet The Climate Pledge, a commitment we co-founded with Global Optimism to reach net-zero carbon by 2040—ten years ahead of the Paris Agreement.
In support of The Climate Pledge in June 2020, we launched the Climate Pledge Fund, a $2 billion investment programme to support the development of sustainable and decarbonising technologies and services that will enable Amazon and other companies to meet the goals set by The Climate Pledge. Our dedicated fund is investing in visionary companies across multiple industries, including transportation and logistics, energy generation, storage and utilisation, manufacturing and materials, circular economy, and food and agriculture, whose products and solutions will facilitate the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Today we are announcing that ZeroAvia is the latest startup to receive an investment from the Climate Pledge Fund. ZeroAvia is a leader in zero-emission aviation, focused on hydrogen-electric aviation solutions to address a variety of markets, initially targeting being able to fly within a 500-mile range with a 10-20 seat aircraft used for commercial passenger transport, package delivery, agriculture, and more. ZeroAvia completed the UK’s first-ever commercial-scale battery-electric flight in June 2020.
"Amazon created The Climate Pledge Fund to support the development of technologies and services that will enable Amazon and other companies to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement ten years early—achieving net-zero carbon by 2040,” said Kara Hurst, VP Worldwide Sustainability, Amazon. “ZeroAvia’s zero-emission aviation powertrain has real potential to help decarbonise the aviation sector, and we hope this investment will further accelerate the pace of innovation to enable zero-emission air transport at scale."
Aviation is an important area where investment is needed to push forward innovation at Amazon. We believe that Amazon is in a unique position to dedicate resources to making air transportation more sustainable. That’s why we purchased 6MM gallons of sustainable aviation fuel earlier this summer. We believe sustainable aviation fuels are critical as one of many solutions that can help decarbonise aviation. The recent additions of JetBlue, Harbour Air and Boom Supersonic as signatories to The Climate Pledge underscore the importance of decarbonising the aviation sector.
“The Climate Pledge Fund is another important example of how the collaborative effort of The Climate Pledge can accelerate the transition to a net-zero world. These investments will scale new technologies, helping these organisations speed up the pace at which operational emissions can be reduced,” said Christiana Figueres, the UN’s former climate change chief and founding partner of Global Optimism. “This is how a whole-economy approach to tackling the climate crisis looks. Together these companies demonstrate that there are endless possibilities in the clean, healthy recovery we must create together.”
Amazon has already announced investments in CarbonCure Technologies, Pachama, Redwood Materials, Rivian, and Turntide Technologies. In addition to ZeroAvia, these companies are creating decarbonising technologies that will help Amazon and other companies reach net-zero carbon by 2040.
Amazon continues to accept applications for The Climate Pledge Fund. Learn more about the Climate Pledge Fund.
