Amazon Ups Support for Sustainable Products
Amazon has unveiled Climate Pledge Friendly, a new program to help shoppers find sustainable products. The Climate Pledge Friendly label will appear on more than 25,000 products to show that they have one or more of 19 distinct sustainability certifications, such as reducing the carbon footprint of shipments to customers.
The Climate Pledge Friendly selection encompasses grocery, household, fashion, beauty and personal electronics items, as well as products from a variety of other categories, from brands such as Seventh Generation, Burt’s Bees Baby and HP Inc. Climate Pledge Friendly products are clearly labeled in shopping results, have further sustainability information on their product pages and are featured in a dedicated section of the website.
Amazon has teamed with third-party certifiers like the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, an Oakland, California-based global nonprofit whose safe, sustainable products are made to support a circular economy.
Also as part of the initiative, the online retailer is rolling out Compact by Design, a new externally validated certification identifying products with a more efficient design. Removing excess air and water results in less product packaging that’s more efficient to ship. At scale, these small differences in product size and weight lead to considerable carbon emission reductions, according to Amazon.
Companies that have introduced Compact by Design-certified products include Seventh Generation (super-concentrated laundry detergent) and Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day (multisurface concentrate).
“Climate Pledge Friendly is a simple way for customers to discover more sustainable products that help preserve the natural world,” said Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. “With 18 external certification programs and our own Compact by Design certification, we’re incentivizing selling partners to create sustainable products that help protect the planet for future generations.”
“Cradle to Cradle certification provides a framework for product optimization based on the principles of designing with safe and healthy materials, using clean renewable energy and water, celebrating diversity, and eliminating the concept of waste,” noted William McDonough, co-founder of the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute. “We love that Amazon is making it simple for customers to find sustainable products. Amazon’s new program will expand our reach and enable us to empower more brands to deliver safer and more sustainable products for the circular economy.”
“In line with our mission to make sustainable living commonplace, we are delighted to partner with Amazon on its Climate Pledge Friendly initiative,” said Fabian Garcia, president of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey-based Unilever North America, manufacturer of Seventh Generation, Love Beauty Planet and Dove, among other brands available under the program. “Amazon’s initiative will drive scale and impact for more sustainable consumption by helping customers easily discover products that are Climate Pledge Friendly and encourage the manufacturers to make their products more sustainable. Unilever is committed to delivering products that provide the best experience for consumers while reducing the impact that our products and our operations have on the environment.”
The Climate Pledge Friendly program supports Amazon’s commitment to reach the Paris Agreement 10 years early and become net zero carbon by 2040. The company has already pledged to attain 100% renewable energy by 2025, ordered more than 100,000 fully electric delivery vehicles, and intends to invest $100 million in reforestation projects globally. Amazon also started the Climate Pledge Fund, a $2 billion fund to help companies whose products and services will ease the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Seattle-based Amazon is No. 2 on the PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2020 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America, while Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods, a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon, is No. 24.
