How the Climate Pledge is Aiming to Decarbonise the World
The Climate Pledge was co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism in 2019, aiming to reach net zero across global operation by 2040, a decade before the Paris Agreement's terms.
Amazon reports that it has improved its carbon intensity by 24% reaching its goal of matching 100% of the electricity it uses across its operations with renewable energy.
More than 550 companies globally have joined the pledge, collaborating across the public and private sectors to drive progress in stopping climate change.
So far, the Climate Pledge has launched 10 projects as a series of collaborative joint actions with the aim to tackle some of the planet's largest climate change challenges.
Decarbonising the apparel and footwear sector
The Renewable Energy for the Apparel & Footwear sector project is based in India and aims to decarbonise the apparel and footwear sector’s value chain emissions by transitioning to renewable energy.
It aims to create capacity-building programs for suppliers, allowing them to create informed decisions about the implementation of renewable energy solutions.
In effect, the initiative aims to reduce carbon emissions from suppliers whilst reducing the value chain emissions for the brands they cater to through the use of renewable energy solutions.
Fashion brands ASOS and Levi’s have joined Amazon on this mission.
The Climate Pledge says that the initiative is important following a United Nations report that the fashion industry is responsible for more energy use than the aviation and shipping industries combined.
After being successful in India, the Climate Pledge aims to replicate the business model across other countries in the Asia Pacific region.
Reducing carbon emissions from freight trucks
The Laneshift-India Zero Emission Freight Project aims to decarbonise freight trucks in developing countries by lowering tail-pipe emissions.
Climate Pledge is investing in Laneshift initiatives that are laying the groundwork to catalyse the transition.
It involves advancing the deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) alongside an on the ground route testing to see the viability of long-distance EV freight trucks for six months.
As well as developing a replicable, scalable approach to EV highways across India, it is implementing charging infrastructure and creating incentives for long-term investments.
The Climate Pledge expects that the project will create a national roadmap for the implementation of the EV highway corridors following long term reduction in tail-pipe carbon emissions.
It says the initiative is important as road freights have emitted more than 2.2 billion tons of carbon globally in 2020.
Abhinav Singh, Vice-President of Operations at Amazon India, says: “India’s highways, like those between Bengaluru and Chennai, provide a powerful opportunity to demonstrate the viability of electric trucking solutions.
“Our collaboration with C40 Cities and The Climate Pledge marks an important milestone in transforming India’s road freight sector and is crucial to accelerating the adoption of zero-emission freight."
How will it power the electric freight trucks?
In alignment with Laneshift-India Zero Emission Freight Project the climate pledge has launched the JOULE: Joint Operation Unifying Last-Mile Electrification with the aim to invest more than US$2.65m into energy-powered charging stations by signatories and partners.
The operation aims to support 5,500 electric vehicles, aiming to reduce the dependency on fossil fuel heavy grids in India.
Those that commit to the project will aim to decarbonise through deliveries, cab rides, employee business travel and employee commutes.
The Climate Pledge expects that the project will save more than 11.2 million litres of fuel and improve Bangaluru’s air quality, alongside increasing the EV adoption rates in the city.
The project is also estimated to create 185 full time jobs in Bengaluru between 2024 to 2030.
The companies have committed to the project include:
- Amazon
- Deloitte
- Greenk
- Kazam
- HCL
- Uber
- Mahindra Logistics
- Magenta
Abhinav says “We’re proud to be part of The Climate Pledge's initiative to build new charging stations. JOULE advances our goal of deploying 10,000 EVs in India by 2025.
“With over 7,300 EVs in our India operations so far, we’re on track to achieve this and remain committed to collaborating with manufacturers, delivery service providers, and others to scale EV adoption.”
