How we’re inventing to shape a more sustainable future

Last year, Amazon became the first electronics manufacturer to commit to addressing the electricity used by our devices through renewable energy development, starting with our Echo devices. Today, we are thrilled to announce that we are making investments in additional wind and solar farm capacity that, by 2025, will produce clean energy equivalent to the use of all Fire TV and Ring devices worldwide. Combined with our Echo projects, we expect these will produce over 5 million megawatt-hours of clean energy per year—that’s enough to power more than a million homes in Europe every year.

To accompany our investments in renewable energy, we also continue to make our devices more energy efficient. This year we have been busy rolling out Low Power Mode to new devices, as well as older devices already in customers’ homes. By the end of 2021, over 50% of all Echo and Fire TV devices that are in customers’ homes will have Low Power Mode. This feature is also included on the new Echo Show 15 and Fire TV Stick 4K Max, which reduces their lifetime energy consumption by using less power during periods of inactivity.

Our work to introduce recycled materials and source sustainable packaging materials is part of our larger sustainability efforts. In packaging, we’re working to source 100% of the wood fibres from responsibly managed forests or recycled sources, and we’re already at 96% for the packaging on our newest Kindle Paperwhite. We’re also working hard to reduce waste. Over the last 12 months we have eliminated an estimated 29.8 million plastic bags from device and accessories packaging, shipped from our suppliers, compared to the same period in the prior year. All of these efforts support our goal to make packaging 100% recyclable by 2023.

We’re also working with our suppliers to ensure sustainability is a priority. This year, several of our supplier sites—which provide final assembly for some of our most popular Echo, Kindle, and Fire TV devices—achieved Underwriters' Laboratories’ (UL) Zero Waste to Landfill Silver or Platinum certification. This means our suppliers handle waste in environmentally responsible ways, diverting more than 90% of their facility’s waste from landfill through methods other than waste to energy. We encourage all of our suppliers to look for opportunities to minimise waste to landfill throughout their operations.

With all of these efforts, we are on track to cut the carbon intensity, defined as the average lifecycle carbon emissions per device unit, of Amazon Devices in half by 2025.

Last year, Amazon introduced the Climate Pledge Friendly programme to help make it easy for customers to discover and shop for more sustainable products. Climate Pledge Friendly highlights products that are certified by one or more trusted third-party sustainability certifications or our own Compact by Design certification to help preserve the natural world. Echo and Fire TV devices were among the first to receive the Climate Pledge Friendly badge and in just one year, we have launched a number of new devices that received the designation, including Echo Dot Kids, Fire TV Stick Lite, Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Stick 4K Max, Echo Show 5, Echo Show 8, Echo Show 15, Fire HD 10, Fire HD 10 Kids Pro, the all-new Kindle Paperwhite, among others. Find out more about Climate Pledge Friendly.

We are incredibly proud of the progress we’re making and excited about what a more sustainable future holds for us and our customers. But there’s much more left to do. It will take a lot of hard work, but we are committed and prepared to protect the planet on behalf of our customers, employees, and communities.