Amazon’s Commitment to Run on 100-Percent Renewable Energy | Chris Roe | In the Green

46,530 views

2022-10-25 ・ TED


New videos

Amazon’s Commitment to Run on 100-Percent Renewable Energy | Chris Roe | In the Green

46,530 views ・ 2022-10-25

TED


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:09
It sounds simple,
0
9965
1167
00:11
just power your business with 100 percent renewable energy.
1
11174
2795
00:13
But the detail that goes in
2
13969
1293
00:15
and the industry expertise that's required
3
15303
2044
00:17
to really understand not just how much energy you're consuming
4
17347
3128
00:20
across different parts of your business,
5
20517
1918
00:22
but also what's the best and most cost-effective way
6
22435
2628
00:25
to drive new wind and solar to the grids around the world.
7
25105
3170
00:28
It's complicated, and not everybody has the opportunity
8
28275
2669
00:30
to build an internal team of energy experts.
9
30944
2377
00:33
It really comes back to the opportunity to partner.
10
33363
2503
00:35
[In the Green: The Business of Climate Action]
11
35907
4213
00:40
[Presented by TED Countdown The Climate Pledge]
12
40996
3336
00:44
[Chris Roe; Company: Amazon; Location: USA]
13
44749
3170
00:47
When you take a step back and think about Amazon as a company,
14
47961
2920
00:50
it's a complicated place.
15
50881
1251
00:52
We operate data centers, distribution centers, warehouses,
16
52173
3379
00:55
commercial offices, grocery stores,
17
55594
1751
00:57
and all of these different types of operations
18
57387
2211
00:59
have a different set of challenges that we're trying to tackle.
19
59639
3003
01:02
We set this goal to get to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030.
20
62684
3045
01:05
We started off with questions like,
21
65770
1710
01:07
“How much energy did we use in India last year, or last month, or yesterday?”
22
67480
4130
01:11
Understanding our usage across time and across geographies,
23
71651
3545
01:15
and then mapping that against where are the available solar
24
75238
3128
01:18
and wind projects that we could possibly invest in
25
78408
2377
01:20
and then figure out where can we be a catalyst
26
80827
2169
01:22
to really drive new clean energy to the grids where we operate.
27
82996
3211
01:26
We realized very quickly that we cannot go at this alone.
28
86207
2753
01:29
We needed to galvanize collective action across the entire economy,
29
89002
3670
01:32
and that’s why we launched The Climate Pledge
30
92714
2127
01:34
which is really just that,
31
94883
1251
01:36
it’s a pledge and a commitment to get to net zero
32
96134
2294
01:38
in alignment with climate science,
33
98470
1626
01:40
but an invitation to partner and a collective call to action
34
100096
3045
01:43
for other companies to take part in this journey with us.
35
103183
2711
01:46
So when we set out our second headquarters location in Arlington, Virginia,
36
106311
3587
01:49
we tried to think about how are we going to power this new campus
37
109940
3086
01:53
with 100 percent renewable energy.
38
113026
1835
01:54
We got to know Arlington County
39
114903
1668
01:56
and realized they also had a commitment to power their government buildings,
40
116571
4296
02:00
as well as the entire community,
41
120909
1585
02:02
with 100 percent renewable energy over time.
42
122494
2252
02:04
So that instant partnership allowed us to come together and say,
43
124788
3003
02:07
“What are some cool options that we can explore together
44
127832
2628
02:10
to bring new renewable energy to Arlington?”
45
130460
2753
02:13
We took a step back to evaluate how much power will this campus consume?
46
133213
3462
02:16
How much power will our local Whole Foods stores,
47
136675
2419
02:19
our distribution center stores consume?
48
139135
1961
02:21
We were able to add that all up and then talk to the county
49
141137
2837
02:24
and ask them the exact same questions.
50
144015
1835
02:25
How much power do you need to achieve your clean energy goals?
51
145850
2920
02:28
And so we combined those numbers and really came to Dominion,
52
148770
2961
02:31
the local utility provider,
53
151773
1335
02:33
with the need of basically a 120-megawatt solar farm [to] meet all of our needs.
54
153149
4547
02:37
We were able to strike an agreement
55
157737
1710
02:39
that would allow us to bring that 120-megawatt solar farm online
56
159447
3003
02:42
that would eventually feed the grids that feed government buildings,
57
162492
3378
02:45
Amazon stores,
58
165870
1335
02:47
as well as our new campus in Arlington.
59
167247
1960
02:49
When we started our journey,
60
169874
1377
02:51
we were at 42 percent renewable energy in 2019.
61
171251
2711
02:54
And fast forward to today,
62
174004
1251
02:55
we're powered by 85 percent renewable energy across the world.
63
175296
3379
02:59
We have a chance to accelerate that commitment
64
179342
2336
03:01
to get to 100 percent renewable energy from 2030 down to 2025.
65
181720
3670
03:05
We have more work to do,
66
185390
1752
03:07
but I think the proof points we have with renewable energy
67
187183
2753
03:09
give us a blueprint on how we can attack other parts of the climate crisis
68
189978
4254
03:14
yet to be solved.
69
194232
1210
03:15
How do we decarbonize concrete in our buildings?
70
195442
2294
03:17
How do we think about aviation from a zero-carbon perspective?
71
197736
2961
03:20
How do we know what our buildings consume,
72
200697
2044
03:22
how do we know where we need to get to to hit our goals?
73
202782
2753
03:25
Amazon wants to get to net zero because we don't have an option.
74
205535
3337
03:29
The climate science is clear.
75
209372
1418
03:30
We need partnerships to drive change at scale
76
210790
3128
03:33
that's really going to drive carbon out of our global economy.
77
213918
2962
03:36
And that was really the spirit of The Climate Pledge
78
216880
2460
03:39
and a call to action to solve the climate crisis.
79
219340
2378
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7