Amazon vans line up at a distribution center to pick up packages for delivery on Amazon Prime Day in Orlando, Florida.
Paul Hennessy | NurPhoto | Getty Images
Amazon’s carbon emissions jumped 18% last year, as the company reckoned with a pandemic-driven surge in e-commerce and grew its business to meet that extra demand.
in its annual sustainability report issued Monday, Amazon said its activities emitted the equivalent of 71.54 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2021. That’s up 18% from 2020, and an increase of nearly 40% from 2019, the year Amazon first began disclosing its carbon footprint.
Amazon lowered its carbon intensity, which measures emissions per dollar of sales, by 1.9% in 2021, compared with a 16% decline in 2020.
The Covid-19 pandemic led to a massive influx of orders at Amazon and other e-commerce companies. Many consumers, flush with stimulus check money, opted to do their