Amazon Acknowledges Uncertainty Over Its 2040 Net-Zero Path
Amazon does not yet know every measure it will need to meet its commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. Speaking at an Axios event, Chief Sustainability Officer Kara Hurst said the company was still working towards the target and would not claim to know all the ways it would achieve it.
The admission comes from one of the world’s largest businesses. Amazon reported revenue of $717 billion last year, up 12%, and operates across sectors whose emissions are difficult to address, including aviation, artificial intelligence, agriculture and construction. Hurst said the company cannot deliver the transition on its own because it depends on suppliers throughout those industries.
A commitment without a complete route
Hurst said Amazon remains accountable to The Climate Pledge target of net-zero carbon by 2040 and that the commitment has not changed. She also framed climate action as work that requires companies and governments to act together rather than as a choice between the two.
Amazon points to substantial clean-energy procurement as part of its progress. Hurst said it has been among the largest buyers of clean energy globally for several years and has 42 gigawatts in its portfolio. The company has also reported lower carbon intensity over a longer period, meaning emissions per dollar of revenue. However, its carbon intensity increased last year compared with 2024, although it remained below its 2022 level.
AI expansion sharpens the energy question
The uncertainty is especially significant as AI infrastructure expands. Earlier reporting described Amazon’s plans for a 7.65-gigawatt natural-gas power plant intended to supply an AI data-centre campus. Its 35 turbines could emit up to 33 million tons of carbon dioxide each year, which would make the facility the largest single source of that pollution in the United States.
That project illustrates the conflict between rapidly growing computing demand and a long-term decarbonisation pledge. Amazon Web Services is the world’s largest cloud service, while its relationship with Anthropic is central to the demand for AI capacity: Amazon’s Anthropic investment and AWS spending plans outlines Amazon’s $5 billion Anthropic investment and planned $100 billion in AWS spending, reinforcing why dependable power supply has become a strategic concern.
What the disclosure means for business planning
Amazon’s position does not erase its clean-energy investments or its stated 2040 obligation. It does show that procurement milestones and intensity measures do not by themselves resolve emissions from complex supply chains, energy-intensive data centres and industrial activity.
For businesses setting climate commitments alongside infrastructure growth, the practical implication is to match targets with specific power, supplier and capacity assumptions, then reassess those assumptions as expansion plans change.