Amazon Makes Climate Change Pledge
On the latest episode of the E-Commerce Retail Briefing podcast:
Amazon’s CEO announced plans to reach the goals of the Paris climate agreement 10 years early in what he referred to as the Climate Pledge. The pledge maps out the company’s plan to tackle climate change in the coming years. The company has already agreed to purchase 100,000 electric vans along with promising to regularly measure and report the company’s emissions.
- Popular food-delivery service, Postmates, confirmed raising another $225 million. The new round of funding now puts its valuation at $2.4 billion. The latest round comes ahead of their imminent IPO. According to sources familiar with the company, Postmates plans to publicly unveil its IPO prospectus this month.
- Bed Bath & Beyond announced they’re launching their second-ever private label brand. The new line leverages the popularity of digitally native brand, One Kings Lane, which was acquired by Bed Bath & Beyond in 2016. The new brand, One Kings Lane Open House, will be available online at both Bed Bath & Beyond and One Kings Lane.
- According to a press release, hair color brand Madison Reed plans to franchise its Color Bars through a joint venture with Franworth. A spokesperson from the company said the retailer plans to have 600 stores either sold or open by 2024. Madison Reed joins the list of direct to consumer brands who have turned to brick-and-mortar for continued growth. Last year, Casper made a similar announcement with plans to open 200 stores across North America by 2021.
Amazon CEO Announces ‘Climate Pledge’
Jeff Bezos, CEO of retail giant Amazon, announced plans to tackle climate change. In what he referred to as the Climate Pledge, Amazon plans to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement 10 years early. Bezos promised Amazon would measure and report the company’s emissions on a regular basis, along with implementing decarbonization strategies and altering its business strategies to offset remaining emissions.
During the announcement, Bezos said he expects 80% of Amazon’s energy use to come from renewable sources by 2024 before transitioning to zero emissions by 2030. Amazon also revealed they agreed to purchase 100,000 electric vans from manufacturer, Rivian. Bezos said he expects the first vans to be on the road by 2021 and all 100,000 to be deployed by 2024. The company then announced a $100 million donation to The Nature Conservancy to form the Right Now Climate Fund which will work to protect and restore forests around the world.
The plan calls for other companies to join Amazon in fighting climate change. At the National Press Club in Washington, Bezos said, “we want to use our scale and scope to lead the way.” Amazon will be working with companies in its supply chain to help them reach the same goals and will also meet with large corporations to get them to sign onto the agreement.