Amazon carbon emissions up 40% but somehow still on track for "net zero" by 2040

[thomdunn]

Originally published at: Amazon carbon emissions up 40% but somehow still on track for "net zero" by 2040 | Boing Boing

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[bluehenbear]

The accountants are now in charge of climate change accountability.

[nobodez]

I’m not defending Amazon, they’re a shitty company.

The increase in carbon emissions now means nothing compared to a goal 17 years out. They’re a major investor in electric vehicles, which will lower their carbon footprint, as will their transition to smaller and lighter boxes.

It’s not incongruous for them to claim that they’re be net zero by 2040. Still a terrible company, but there’s no reason that they can’t reach that accounting goal in the next 17 years.

[Amstrad]

Major shippers like this switching to electric vehicles, alongside things like the Biden administration’s proposed infrastructure plan to construct 500,000 electric vehicle chargers along major highways are a good sign that the freight shipping industry as a whole might actually get to net zero or very close within the next 10-20 years. The source of the electricity powering those vehicles is another thing entirely of course.

[morcheeba]

I’ve got friends complain about seeing the trucks driving around, but one truck delivering 40 packages is much more efficient than 40 people making 40 separate trips to the store. Yeah, I know some of those trips will be combined with other trips, but a good chunk aren’t. On the few times I go to the mall, I’m glad to see the lots emptier… It’s way better to get my socks in the mail.

[fuzzyfungus]

I wonder if we’ll see the emergence of a CO2 analog of the PO boxes in lightly taxed jurisdictions that mysteriously end up making all the money that companies report not making in locations that have taxes.

[Tamsin_Bailey]

Maybe they figure we’ll all be dead by then.

Everybody scores a Net Zero!!

[suavefucker]

That’s somewhat the rub though, right? To the extent that these new electric fleets get powered by electricity that isn’t derived from renewables, their use won’t be carbon neutral. So many opportunities for creative “accounting.”

[gracchus]

@bluehenbear

The accountants are now in charge of climate change accountability.

Them and statisticians of the kind Mark Twain discussed. I hope for the sake of future generations that this isn’t all numbers games and greenwashing.