More than 200 companies have pledged to achieve net zero carbon by 2040 or earlier

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The project is part of a collaboration between Amazon and advocacy group Global Optimism.

“The breadth of industry that’s committed to it, the size of the companies, the diversity of geographies – that’s just a really amazing signal,” Kara Hurst, head of global sustainability at Amazon.

When a company signs the pledge, it agrees to regularly measure and report greenhouse gases and implement strategies to eliminate carbon emissions from various aspects of its business, such as transportation and production. .

Companies finally commit to net zero carbon 10 years ahead of targets set in the Paris climate agreement, which aims to limit warming to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a target that the Paris agreement on the climate is set by 2050..

But some experts are skeptical of the commitments. To be effective, net zero commitments require transparency and accurate calculations of the overall costs involved in eliminating carbon, Mark Campanale, Founder and Executive Chairman of the Carbon Tracker Initiative, a think tank that studies the impact of change climate change in financial markets, underlined.

Carbon Tracker has estimated that there are approximately “$ 20 trillion in fixed assets in the fossil fuel economy that need to be noted,” he said.

“Businesses don’t do that,” Campanale said. “Businesses don’t account for them in their financial information.”

Together, the signatories to the climate pledge generate more than $ 1.8 trillion in annual revenues globally and have more than 7 million employees in 26 industries in 21 countries, according to Amazon (AMZN). Visa (V), Pepsi (DYNAMISM), Heineken (HEINY) and Alaska Airlines (ALK) are on the list of companies that have already joined the Climate Pledge earlier this year.

“Solving this challenge cannot be accomplished by a single company,” said Andy Jassy, ​​CEO of Amazon, in a press release. “This is one of the reasons we are delighted to announce that more than 200 companies have joined us to sign The Climate Pledge, a commitment to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement 10 years earlier,” said he added.

Regarding the timing of action, Hurst said the “intermediate stages” are very important. She highlighted Amazon’s Shipment Zero initiative, the company’s goal of having all shipments to net zero carbon, with 50% of all shipments to net zero by 2030.

And while net-zero and other environmental commitments have become all the rage in American businesses, it’s not just talk. As consumers increasingly demand transparency and turn to brands that value the environment, investors are paying attention to companies’ carbon footprints, a Bank of America study suggests. “Transparency is essential,” said in April Savita Subramanian, head of US equity strategy and head of global ESG research at the bank. “If you are not transparent, investors will assume the worst and take control of it from you.”

—CNN’s Matt Egan contributed to this report.

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