Energy Efficiency, GHG Emissions  -  March 14, 2022

Maersk, SAP Among Companies Joining Climate Pledge

Amazon and Global Optimism announced that nearly 100 new companies have signed The Climate Pledge, bringing the total to over 300 companies, a nearly 600% growth in signatories over the past year.

The new companies joining the pledge include the world’s largest container shipping company, Maersk; the leading enterprise software developer SAP; the North American timberland company Weyerhaeuser; the largest residential solar company in the U.S., Sunrun; and the connected car and audio services company, HARMAN. 

Signatories to The Climate Pledge must agree to:

• Measure and report GHG gas emissions on a regular basis.
• Implement decarbonization strategies in line with the Paris Agreement through real business changes and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions and other carbon emission elimination strategies.
• Neutralize any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially beneficial offsets to achieve net-zero annual carbon emissions by 2040.

“The effects of climate change are becoming more and more apparent in our surroundings and daily lives, and we firmly believe that the private sector must continue to innovate and collaborate across regions and industries in order to decarbonize the global economy at scale,” said Andy Jassy, Amazon CEO, in a statement.

Many of the new Pledge companies are already making strides toward reducing their carbon emissions:

• Maersk is targeting emission reductions in ocean shipping. Amazon began participating in this service in 2020 and continues today. Amazon’s participation reduced emissions by approximately 20 KTonnes of CO2e (the equivalent of 50 million average passenger vehicle miles) in 2021.
• SAP recently accelerated its target for achieving net-zero carbon emissions to 2030—20 years earlier than originally targeted.
• Weyerhaeuser is sustainably managing forests and manufacturing wood products across North America to provide a sustainable supply of wood for homes and countless other products, while protecting wildlife habitat and serving as a natural climate solution through carbon sequestration and storage.
• Sunrun’s systems have prevented 8.1 million metric tons of carbon emissions.
• HARMAN has introduced new product lines made from responsibly sourced and recycled materials and has committed to 100% renewable energy in all HARMAN factories by 2025.

The Climate Pledge also welcomes several companies that have previously received investments through the $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund, Amazon’s corporate venture capital fund that invests in companies that can help accelerate a path to meeting The Climate Pledge. These companies include BETA Technologies, an electric aerospace company, and Infinium, a renewable fuels technology company, which both aim to support decarbonization efforts in the global transportation sector. Climate Pledge Fund investee and new signatory Pachama uses remote sensing and machine learning to measure carbon stored in forests and monitor them over time, allowing organizations and individuals to compensate for their emissions by supporting reforestation and forest conservation projects.

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