Carbon-free energy
Transitioning to carbon-free energy sources is one of the most effective ways to lower Scope 2 emissions. As part of this work, we're proud that in 2023, we've achieved our goal to match 100% of the electricity consumed across our operations with renewable energy—a commitment we've met seven years ahead of our original 2030 goal.
Our approach
By scaling carbon-free energy, we aim to make Amazon a more resilient and sustainable business, drive a global transition to cleaner energy, and work toward our commitment to The Climate Pledge to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.
Our global carbon-free energy projects
We have more than 500 renewable energy projects across the globe, including wind farms, solar farms, and rooftop solar projects on buildings we operate. These projects will supply renewable electricity across our business including operations facilities, corporate offices, physical stores, AWS data centers, and all financially integrated subsidiaries that support millions of customers globally. In 2024, we also began diversifying our energy portfolio by procuring nuclear power as an additional source of carbon-free energy.
Leading the renewables charge
Our renewable energy portfolio is now big enough to power more than 7.6 million U.S. homes annually. Hear more from our Amazon’s Vice President of Worldwide Sustainability, Kara Hurst.
Recent initiatives
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Europe
In 2023, Amazon announced 39 new renewable energy projects across Europe, adding more than 1 gigawatt (GW) of renewable energy capacity to grids in the region. Our total capacity of renewable energy in Europe is now 7 GW, including 1.7 GW of renewable energy from offshore wind. Offshore wind turbines are an important source of renewable energy due to the volume they produce and their reliability, as winds tend to be higher and more consistent at sea.
Greece
We recently enabled the first utility-scale renewable energy project backed by Amazon in Greece, where the majority of the region’s power comes from carbon-intensive coal and oil. The project is expected to help the region avoid more than 16,000 tons of carbon each year. That’s nearly six times more carbon avoided than if the same project was located in a country like Sweden, where the grid is already powered with a higher concentration of renewable energy sources.
Maryland, U.S.
In 2023, we announced plans to support repurposing a previously polluted Maryland coal mine into a solar farm. Amazon Solar Farm Maryland–CPV Backbone is under construction at the site of the recently closed Arch Coal Mine. Once completed, it’s expected to be the largest solar farm in Maryland. Featuring more than 326,000 solar panels, this initiative will help to avoid more than 64,000 metric tons of CO2 each year—the equivalent of taking more than 13,900 cars off the road.
Mississippi, U.S.
Operations recently began at Delta Wind, the first utility-scale wind farm in Mississippi, which is generating carbon-free energy to help power Amazon’s nearby operations, including future data centers. The project includes some of the tallest land-based wind turbines in the U.S., allowing the project to optimize energy production, and shares the land with a local farmer through a dual land use arrangement.
Pennsylvania, U.S.
We purchased a data center campus in Pennsylvania that’s directly powered by nuclear energy from the adjacent Susquehanna Steam Electric Station. Nuclear energy is the most reliable, abundant, and stable energy source on the grid, and our investment in nuclear power is part of our broader efforts to decarbonize the energy sector, and our business.
In 2024, we signed an agreement with Energy Northwest, a consortium of public utilities, to enable the development of four SMRs. The reactors are expected to generate roughly 320 megawatts and will add net-new carbon-free energy to the grid, which will also help power our operations.
Brazil
An estimated 1,000 jobs have been created in Brazil during the construction of a new wind farm within the Seridó Wind Complex. According to the developer, nearly 50% of those jobs were filled by workers from local communities in the countryside of the Rio Grande do Norte region. This marks the second renewable energy project Amazon has supported in Brazil.
Asia-Pacific
In 2023, we accelerated renewable energy investments across the Asia-Pacific region by adding 24 new utility-scale solar and wind projects to our portfolio. We also announced the first Amazon-backed renewable energy project in South Korea, which will create an estimated 2,400 jobs during construction, according to the developer.
India
Amazon has enabled 50 renewable energy projects in India, and have invested in dozens of solar projects on the rooftops of local Amazon facilities. This makes us the largest corporate purchaser of renewables in India, according to BloombergNEF and publicly available data, with a total of 1.1 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy capacity purchased to date across India as of 2023.
Download a list of our 500+ global carbon-free energy projects
CSV, 46.2 KB
File last updated in [September 2024] and is subject to change
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Europe
Europe
In 2023, Amazon announced 39 new renewable energy projects across Europe, adding more than 1 gigawatt (GW) of renewable energy capacity to grids in the region. Our total capacity of renewable energy in Europe is now 7 GW, including 1.7 GW of renewable energy from offshore wind. Offshore wind turbines are an important source of renewable energy due to the volume they produce and their reliability, as winds tend to be higher and more consistent at sea.
Greece
We recently enabled the first utility-scale renewable energy project backed by Amazon in Greece, where the majority of the region’s power comes from carbon-intensive coal and oil. The project is expected to help the region avoid more than 16,000 tons of carbon each year. That’s nearly six times more carbon avoided than if the same project was located in a country like Sweden, where the grid is already powered with a higher concentration of renewable energy sources.
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United States
Maryland, U.S.
In 2023, we announced plans to support repurposing a previously polluted Maryland coal mine into a solar farm. Amazon Solar Farm Maryland–CPV Backbone is under construction at the site of the recently closed Arch Coal Mine. Once completed, it’s expected to be the largest solar farm in Maryland. Featuring more than 326,000 solar panels, this initiative will help to avoid more than 64,000 metric tons of CO2 each year—the equivalent of taking more than 13,900 cars off the road.
Mississippi, U.S.
Operations recently began at Delta Wind, the first utility-scale wind farm in Mississippi, which is generating carbon-free energy to help power Amazon’s nearby operations, including future data centers. The project includes some of the tallest land-based wind turbines in the U.S., allowing the project to optimize energy production, and shares the land with a local farmer through a dual land use arrangement.
Pennsylvania, U.S.
We purchased a data center campus in Pennsylvania that’s directly powered by nuclear energy from the adjacent Susquehanna Steam Electric Station. Nuclear energy is the most reliable, abundant, and stable energy source on the grid, and our investment in nuclear power is part of our broader efforts to decarbonize the energy sector, and our business.
In 2024, we signed an agreement with Energy Northwest, a consortium of public utilities, to enable the development of four SMRs. The reactors are expected to generate roughly 320 megawatts and will add net-new carbon-free energy to the grid, which will also help power our operations.
-
Brazil
An estimated 1,000 jobs have been created in Brazil during the construction of a new wind farm within the Seridó Wind Complex. According to the developer, nearly 50% of those jobs were filled by workers from local communities in the countryside of the Rio Grande do Norte region. This marks the second renewable energy project Amazon has supported in Brazil.
-
Asia-Pacific
In 2023, we accelerated renewable energy investments across the Asia-Pacific region by adding 24 new utility-scale solar and wind projects to our portfolio. We also announced the first Amazon-backed renewable energy project in South Korea, which will create an estimated 2,400 jobs during construction, according to the developer.
-
India
Amazon has enabled 50 renewable energy projects in India, and have invested in dozens of solar projects on the rooftops of local Amazon facilities. This makes us the largest corporate purchaser of renewables in India, according to BloombergNEF and publicly available data, with a total of 1.1 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy capacity purchased to date across India as of 2023.
Download a list of our 500+ global carbon-free energy projects
CSV, 46.2 KB
File last updated in [September 2024] and is subject to change
Investing in nuclear energy
As the energy needs of our business and customers grow, we’re continuing to invest in renewable energy while also finding additional sources of carbon-free energy that can both help power our operations and bring new sources of energy to local grids. Nuclear power is one part of that mix – it can be brought online at scale, and has a decades-long record of providing a reliable source of safe carbon-free energy for communities around the world.
In 2024, we signed three agreements to support the development of nuclear energy projects – including enabling the construction of a new SMR project in Washington State with Energy Northwest, while also exploring a second project in Virginia with Dominion Energy. We also signed an agreement to co-locate a data center facility next to Talen Energy’s nuclear facility in Pennsylvania. In addition to creating and preserving sources of carbon-free energy, our investments in these projects are expected to provide an economic boost for the local communities in which they reside by creating jobs and generating tax revenue.
We’re also making an investment through our Climate Pledge Fund in X-energy, a leading developer of next-generation SMRs and fuel, which will help advance the technology for the project in Washington state and beyond.
Building a renewable energy economy
Bringing new renewable energy sources to market is not the only reason we make investments in carbon-free energy—the projects can also generate real economic growth in the communities where these solar and wind farms are developed and operated.
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$12.6B
investment globally from 2014–2022
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$8.8B
investment in the U.S. from 2014–2022
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$5.4B
total GDP globally from 2014–2022
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$4.2B
total GDP in the U.S. from 2014–2022
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39,000
full-time equivalent jobs supported in 2022 globally
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12,800
full-time equivalent jobs supported in 2022 in the U.S.
Supporting a just energy transition
We have a unique role to play in supporting a just energy transition. We’re a founding member of Beyond the Megawatt—an initiative by the Clean Energy Buyers Institute to maximize the environmental and social benefits of the clean energy transition. We support Beyond the Megawatt’s efforts to address resilience, social equity, and environmental protection issues by scaling impact-oriented clean energy procurement strategies. A global clean energy transition will also require increased supplies of minerals that power more sustainable technologies.
We partnered with the U.S. Agency for International Development, the BHP Foundation, and the Chandler Foundation to deliver the Powering a Just Energy Transition Green Minerals Challenge (JET Minerals Challenge).
We partnered with the U.S. Agency for International Development, the BHP Foundation, and the Chandler Foundation to deliver the Powering a Just Energy Transition Green Minerals Challenge (JET Minerals Challenge).
