Amazon's 4 New Projects To Bolster Carbon Neutrality Efforts

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is constantly infusing resources into renewable energy projects in a bid to fuel its carbon neutrality drive. The company’s latest announcement of four new renewable projects is the testament to this fact.

Notably, these projects will be based in Australia, Spain, Sweden, and the United States, which are expected to come online by 2021-2022.

All the four wind and solar projects are expected to generate around 300 megawatt (MW) and 840k megawatt hours (MWh) of extra clean energy and renewable capacity.

We believe the latest move bodes well for the company’s goal of utilizing 80% and 100% renewable energy by 2024 and 2030, respectively. The additional renewable capacity produced by the new projects will be utilized in supplying energy to the AWS data centers by charging up its grids.

Amazon has been shifting focus from fossil fuels to clean energy for quite some time now. The shift to clean energy sources is anticipated to reduce costs in the near term, which is a major positive. Additionally, the company can generate healthy returns from strengthening solar and wind investments as there are several associated tax incentives.

Carbon Neutrality Initiatives: Key Catalyst

The latest move will reduce Amazon’s carbon footprint, which in turn will aid its commitment to save the environment by leveraging renewable energy. This is in sync with the company’s aim to reach net zero carbon by 2040.

We note that Amazon’s Australian project, which will be located in northern New South Wales, is a 60 MW solar project. It is likely to produce 142k MWh of clean energy annually.

The latest 122 MW European wind project is located in Vasternorrland, Sweden. Further, the new 50 MW solar project is based in Zaragoza, Spain. Both the European projects are capable of powering 158K average homes a year.

Furthermore, the new 65 MW U.S. solar project, which is located in Halifax County, VA, marks the company’s 11th renewable energy project in the state. This project is likely to produce more than 150K MW of renewable energy.

Notably, these projects reflect Amazon’s Climate Pledge commitment.

Carbon Neutrality Gaining Steam

Apart from Amazon, tech giants like Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) , Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) are also taking initiatives to adopt alternative energy sources to lower overall carbon emissions and cut energy bills substantially.

Google’s aggressive three-fold strategy, which includes energy efficiency, renewable energy procurement and carbon offsets, is a testament to its commitment to carbon neutrality.

Further, Microsoft is gathering steam to become carbon negative by 2030. It inked two power purchase agreements with EDP Renewables North America LLC to work on a wind energy project based out of Paulding County, OH.

Meanwhile, Apple and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) announced that they are looking for ways to develop a carbon-free project soon.

Nevertheless, Amazon strengthening carbon neutrality initiatives remain noteworthy. Apart from the latest move, the e-commerce giant recently revealed three new renewable energy projects in the United States and one in Spain.

On completion, these projects are expected to provide an estimated 329 MW of additional renewable capacity. This energy will be utilized in the company’s fulfillment network in Europe and AWS data centers.

Moreover, it had placed a purchase order for 100,000 electric delivery trucks with Rivian. These emission-free vehicles will reduce carbon footprint further.

The total number of launched utility-scale wind and solar renewable energy projects of Amazon stands at 26 to date. Moreover, the total number of installed solar rooftops on fulfillment centers and sort centers has exceeded 50.

All these strong endeavors are expected to keep the company’s renewable energy game a step ahead of its peers.

Currently, Amazon carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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