And the world’s largest corporate buyer of renewable energy is….

Renewable energy and sustainability are on the agenda for most organizations today. Be it big tech companies, car manufacturers, or even financial institutions, the more efforts done by these organizations, the better brownie points they get in their overall performance.

In fact, during COP26 last year, counties, states, investors, and organizations pledged to use more sustainable and renewable energy products. This included the ending of dependence on coal power, scaling up clear power, and increasing energy efficiency.

Over the last few years, big tech companies continue to make commitments toward sustainability. This includes investing in renewable energy projects around the world and also reducing their carbon emission. In 2019, Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge, committing to reach net-zero carbon by 2040, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement. The Pledge now has more than 300 signatories, including Best Buy, IBM, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Siemens, Unilever, Verizon, and Visa.

To reach its goal, Amazon continues to reduce emissions across its operations by taking real business actions and establishing a path to power its operations with 100% renewable energy, five years ahead of the company’s original target of 2030. Amazon is also delivering on its Shipment Zero vision to make all Amazon shipments net-zero carbon, with 50% net-zero carbon by 2030, and purchasing 100,000 electric delivery vehicles, the largest order ever of electric delivery vehicles.

Now, Amazon has announced 37 new renewable energy projects around the world, marking significant progress on its path to power 100% of its operations with renewable energy by 2025. The new projects increase the capacity of Amazon’s renewable energy portfolio by nearly 30%, from 12.2 gigawatts (GW) to 15.7 GW, and bring the total number of renewable energy projects to 310 across 19 countries. The additional 3.5 GW of clean energy capacity from these new projects extends Amazon’s leadership position as the world’s largest corporate buyer of renewable energy and advances its efforts to meet The Climate Pledge.

According to Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, the company’s commitment to protecting the planet and limiting Amazon’s impact on the environment has led them to become the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in the world in both 2020 and 2021.

Amazon now has 310 wind and solar projects across 19 countries. The 37 new projects announced are located across the U.S., Spain, France, Australia, Canada, India, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates. They vary in project type and size, with three new wind farms, 26 new solar farms, and eight new rooftop solar installations at its buildings around the world. As a result of these projects, Amazon now has a total of 310 renewable energy projects, including 134 wind and solar farms and 176 rooftop solar projects.

Once operational, Amazon’s 310 projects are expected to produce 42,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of renewable energy each year—enough electricity output to power 3.9 million U.S. homes annually. The carbon-free energy generated by these projects will also help avoid 17.3 million metric tons of carbon emissions annually, avoiding the equivalent of the annual emissions of more than 3.7 million cars in the US each year.

When it comes to energy storage, Amazon’s investments allow the company to store clean energy produced by its solar projects and deploy it when solar energy is not available, such as in the evening hours, or during periods of high demand. This strengthens the climate impact of Amazon’s clean energy portfolio by enabling carbon-free electricity throughout more parts of the day.

The new projects include a 300-megawatt (MW) solar project paired with 150 MW of battery storage in Arizona and a 150 MW solar project paired with 75 MW of battery storage in California. Combined, the two projects double Amazon’s total announced solar paired with energy storage from 220 MW to 445 MW.

To see Amazon’s renewable energy projects around the world, visit the company’s renewal energy project interactive map.

For Miranda Ballentine, CEO of Clean Energy Buyers Association (CEBA), as number one on CEBA’s Deal Tracker Top 10 for the second year in a row, Amazon continues to demonstrate its commitment to advancing clean energy. The recent announcement highlights the increasingly sophisticated strategies used by energy customers to deploy carbon-free energy projects across the nation and the world, and the critical role energy customers play in optimizing emissions reductions.