Amazon & The Climate Pledge: Catalysing Net Zero by 2040
The Climate Pledge is a commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040, a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement’s target.
It was co-founded in 2019 by Amazon and Global Optimism and is now nearing 600 signatories.
When signing the Pledge, organisations agree to:
- Regular reporting: measuring and publicly reporting greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis
- Carbon elimination: implementing decarbonisation strategies in line with the Paris Agreement, including innovations like increased efficiency and use of renewable energy
- Credible offsets: offsetting any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, permanent and socially beneficial offsets to achieve net zero carbon emissions annually by 2040.
The Pledge also supports investments through mechanisms like the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, aiming to support development of technologies and products to accelerate decarbonisation.
“When it comes to decarbonisation, no company can go at it alone,” said Sally Fouts, Director of The Climate Pledge at Amazon, on LinkedIn.
“That's exactly why collaboration and partnership are so integral to The Climate Pledge. It’s about bringing businesses together to find solutions to shared problems.”
The origins of The Climate Pledge
The Paris Agreement was adopted on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016.
The Climate Pledge was founded three years later by Amazon and Global Optimism on the conviction that global businesses are responsible, accountable and able to act on the climate crisis.
“Meeting these goals is really only something that can be done in collaboration with other large companies, because we’re all part of each other’s supply chains,” says Jeff Bezos, Founder and Executive Chairman of Amazon.
“So, we have to work together, and we want to use our scale and our scope to lead the way. We know it’s going to be challenging. But we know we can do it – and that we have to."
What businesses signed The Climate Pledge?
As of August 2025, the Pledge’s website shows 565 signatories across 60 industries and 46 countries.
Included in this list are:
- Amazon
- Schneider Electric
- Salesforce
- Uber
- Capgemini
- Mastercard
- Verizon
- Microsoft
- Best Buy
"This is not going to be easy – but this is absolutely critical and important,” says Christiana Figueres, Co-Founder of Global Optimism.
Every signatory of the Pledge receives access to Passport, a private online community that provides practical tools and industry expert connections to help organisations achieve their climate commitments.
BizClik, the digital media company behind Sustainability Magazine, joined The Climate Pledge in August 2025.
“We’re not waiting for change; we’re building it,” says Glen White, CEO of BizClik.
Who leads The Climate Pledge?
Sally Fouts is Director of The Climate Pledge at Amazon, leading a team of professionals to accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy.
She joined the company in 2009 in communications and held a variety of positions before taking on The Climate Pledge in 2020.
Sally earned a degree in journalism from the University of Oregon.
Christiana Figueres Co-Founded Global Optimism in 2016 after leaving the United Nations.
In her previous role, she was the Chief Negotiator of the efforts that culminated in the Paris Agreement.
Alongside her work with the Pledge, Christiana is Chair of the Earthshot Prize Foundation.
Fiona McRaith is Director of The Climate Pledge at Global Optimism, a role she took on after working at the Bezos Earth Fund.
Previously, Fiona has held roles at the World Resources Institute, the White House and Action for the Climate Emergency.
