Rivian’s electric delivery vehicles will be among the most visible actions Amazon takes in its difficult battle to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. Amazon’s recent launch of Rivian electric delivery vehicles was a game changer in the company’s efforts to reduce emissions. Starting in big cities such as Chicago, Dallas, San Diego, and, predictably, Seattle, Amazon wants to have the vehicles in more than 100 locations soon and to have more than 100,000 vehicles across the United States by 2030. 
However, the firms claim that the Rivian vehicles, which were created with driver input, have further advantages in terms of safety and comfort. Deploying 100,000 of them over the next decade points at Amazon’s distinct problems and potential in comparison to other large technology organizations. Google and Microsoft are almost entirely digital companies. While Apple must be concerned with supply chain emissions and the recyclability of its own goods, few, if any, corporations move as much stuff as Amazon while being able to target improvements through both technology expenditures and distribution power. According to Amazon’s recently issued sustainability report for 2021, the company delivered over 100 million parcels in Europe last year utilizing a fleet of over 3,000 electric delivery vans and other zero-emission vehicles. In Manhattan’s congested streets, the business delivered 30 million parcels on cargo bikes and by foot. And those packages are far less wasteful than in the past, thanks to options like programs that ship products without packaging, Climate-Friendly certifications for sustainably designed products, and even using machine learning algorithm improvements to pack products more efficiently into smaller boxes, allowing for more efficient use of cargo storage. However, much of the effort to reduce transportation’s carbon impact will take place through forms of transportation that customers will not see. For example, the corporation is a member of an industry organization working to improve zero-emissions technology and fuels for use in maritime boats, and it assisted in the formation of another. Given aviation’s greenhouse gas emissions, it’s also investing in firms like ZeroAvia, which is developing hydrogen-electric powertrains for jets, and Beta Technologies, one of several startups building electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Overall, Amazon’s $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund has invested in 18 firms, including five new additions since the end of 2021. Because we aren’t yet whizzing around in electric flying Ubers, the cumulative impact of these kinds of developments will take some time to be fully recognized. While the company continued to improve its Scope 2 (bought electricity) emissions in 2021, it observed considerable rises in Scope 1 (direct operations) and Scope 3 (indirect sources) emissions, which normally account for the lion’s share of a company’s carbon footprint.
