Amazon continue to move at glacial pace with addressing their emissions.

Whilst its good to see progress, it's also frustrating to see how slowly Amazon are moving. They have announced an update to their Supply Chain Standards - sadly not due till next year - which will require their suppliers to disclose carbon emissions data and set reduction goals.

From my perspective, this seems a little ironic. Amazon, a giant in the industry, is aiming for net-zero emissions by 2040, but it's only now addressing Scope 3 emissions - these account for 75% or more of their total carbon footprint.

You've got to question how they can shout about reducing their scope 3 by 0.7% last when they clearly aren't measuring it with any level of detail. How can they claim reductions in Scope 3 when they are only just getting to grips with detailed data from suppliers? Definitely a case of putting the cart before the horse (or letting the marketeers run wild)!

Their Supply Chain Standards update isn't rolling out until 2024 meaning they won't get meaningful data for another 1-2 years. With climate change being such an urgent issue, why the delay in implementing such a crucial change?

Yes, their supply chain is a behemoth, and yes, decarbonising it is an enormous task. But if we want to seriously combat climate change, we need more than token gestures and vague future promises.

Amazon does state its intentions to use its size and influence to assist suppliers committed to decarbonisation and transition them to carbon-free electricity. It's a promising objective, but it doesn’t answer the nagging question of why it is taking them so long to put this in motion. It's not like they are short of cash or people, they literally have nearly limitless funds.

The clock is ticking, and we need more action, less PR and marketing noise.