Kara Hurst: Can She Steer Amazon Toward its Sustainability Goals?
| Case Code: HROB262 Case Length: 8 Pages Period: - Pub Date: 2024 Teaching Note: Available |
Price: Rs.400 Organization: Amazon.com, Inc. Industry: e-commerce Countries: United States Themes: Gender and Leadership, Environmental Sustainability, Leadership Style,Women in Leadership |
Abstract Case Intro 1 Case Intro 2 Excerpts
Excerpts
Challenges Faced by Hurst
Amazon had faced constant criticism for its lack of action on sustainability and usage of renewable energy for its operations. Compared with other corporate giants in the US such as Walmart, Apple, Yahoo, and Target, Amazon was one of the last to embrace sustainability. It began taking up sustainability initiatives in 2014 by hiring top executives as part of its sustainability team. Richard Matthews (he), sustainability consultant and environmental writer, said, “Amazon has consistently ranked near the bottom of most relevant activist lists, from Climate Counts to Greenpeace’s Green IT rankings. Amazon consumes vast quantities of energy and resources. The scope and size of its operations invite scrutiny and demand leadership. To date, the company has demonstrated an ongoing lack of transparency on environmental issues. Amazon is not involved with sustainability collaborations nor does it publish a sustainability report or report greenhouse gas emissions to CDP. Until the company publicly reports its impacts, performance and commitments criticisms are justified and its reputation is at risk.”..
Sustainability at Amazon
Under Hurst’s leadership, the organization as part of its initiative to create transparency in reporting, launched the ‘Amazon Sustainability Question Bank’ in 2018. This provided detailed answers to the questions that pertained to Amazon’s sustainability initiatives and the status of its sustainability goals. She commented, “At Amazon, we pride ourselves on being customer-obsessed. Being more transparent with information and understanding what our customers are searching for is at the heart of Amazon, and the Sustainability Question Bank gives us a new way to do just that.”..
Colloborative Leadership
In 2019, Amazon embarked on an ambitious goal to de-carbonize its total operations by the year 2040. Headed by Hurst, Amazon founded ‘The Climate Pledge’ in 2019 by partnering with Global Optimism . ‘The Climate Pledge’ encouraged and called upon the business community that comprised organizations and individuals to collaborate and work toward decarburization and achieve net-zero by 2040. The initiative was started with an initial fund of US$ two billion provided by Amazon to help entrepreneurs and innovators develop new innovative technologies for sustainability and de-carbonization. Jeff Bezos (he), Founder & CEO, Amazon..
Impact of the Sustainability Initiatives
The impact of Amazon’s sustainability initiatives could be spread broadly over five major areas – Driving Climate Solutions, Reducing Waste & Packaging, Protecting Natural Resources, Advancing Human Rights, and Innovating Products & Services.
Driving Climate Solutions: As of 2022, Amazon had utilized renewable energy for 90 percent of its electricity consumption. Its target being to achieve 100 percent of electricity consumption from renewable energy sources by 2030
Using AI to Accelerate Sustainability Goals
Amazon planned to utilize AI for a sustainable future. Hurst emphasized that AI was used at Amazon’s operations right from democratizing data to reducing packaging. Amazon planned to achieve its goal of 100 percent renewable energy usage in its operations by 2025. Having reached 90 percent of renewable energy usage in 2022 and having procured over 100 wind and solar energy projects across the globe in 2023, the organization was well ahead of schedule. Hurst said that AI was increasingly playing a great role in Amazon’s sustainability agenda..
What lies ahead?
In May 2023, Amazon moved to its new sustainable office ‘HQ2’ in Arlington, Virginia, US. The building was one of the two 22 floor towers that the organization planned to build as part of its initiatives to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040. Sustainable materials were used in the construction of the building and the power requirements were met by a solar farm that was near the site. Hurst said the concrete used for the building was procured from a carbon removal company ‘CarbonCure’..
Exhibits
Exhibit I: Amazon’s Carbon Footprint from 2019 to 2022.
Exhibit II: Amazon’s Net-Zero Goal 2040
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