Amazon, the online retailing company recently introduced its Climate-Friendly program, so that customers can select from a range of sustainable products. This initiative is a step forward in trying to reduce their carbon footprint. This includes more than 25,000 products ranging from groceries, household items to electronics, and apparel.
First launching in the US, customers will now see the Climate Pledge Friendly badge on more than 25,000 products, which will make it easier to identify which products are helping to preserve the natural world, such as through reducing the carbon footprint of shipments to customers.
Amazon evaluated hundreds of external sustainability certifications and chose organisations that certify products with proven environmentally-related sustainability benefits.
Now, when you shop on Amazon’s website, you will see a new “climate pledge friendly” badge on eligible sustainable products. This badge is also present on the product page, from where you can learn more about the certification that makes the product “climate pledge friendly”.
“Climate Pledge Friendly is a simple way for customers to discover more sustainable products that help preserve the natural world. 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,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO.
Amazon has partnered with a wide range of external certifications, including governmental agencies, non-profits, and independent laboratories, to help it distinguish more sustainable products. The company focused on certifications that are reputable, transparent, and have a focus on preserving the natural world. It will routinely evaluate and reassess the certification landscape to ensure it includes the best partners to help its customers shop for more sustainable products.
“In line with our mission to make sustainable living commonplace, we are delighted to partner with Amazon on its Climate Pledge Friendly initiative. 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.” said Fabian Garcia, President of Unilever North America, makers of Seventh Generation, Love Beauty Planet, and Dove, among other brands available through the program.
Amazon is working closely with 18 trusted third-party certifications, and customers will be able to discover products that meet sustainability standards to help preserve the natural world. For example, we’ve partnered with Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, a global non-profit dedicated to transforming the safety, health, and sustainability of products.
Earlier this year, Bezos pledged a whopping US$ 10 billion to fight global climate change. Following this announcement, in June, Amazon introduced its 2 billion dollar Climate Change Fund with which they plan to invest in technologies that can help them manage the environmental repercussions.
The Washington-based e-commerce major’s goal in this arena is to make the company net zero carbon by 2040.
How do products qualify?
To qualify for Climate Pledge Friendly a product must be certified by one of the sustainability certifications featured on our certification page or by Amazon’s own Compact by Design certification.
Amazon’s Compact by Design
Amazon has also created its own certification, Compact by Design, to identify products that, while they may not always look very different, have a more efficient design. With the removal of excess air and water, products require less packaging and become more efficient to ship. At scale, these small differences in product size and weight lead to significant carbon emission reductions.
Less packaging
Many products have been designed to stand out on a store shelf. Products don’t need eye-catching packaging online and Compact by Design has identified products without this excess packaging.
Less air in container
Some Compact by Design products have less air, which can mean less packaging. You can get the same amount of product in a smaller container.
More efficient shape
Compact by Design highlights products whose shape allows them to deliver the same amount of product while minimising cubic inches.
Less weight
While two containers can hold the same volume, lighter packaging materials make the product more efficient to ship.
Waterless technology
Products can be transformed in exciting, new ways. One example is water-based products that are transformed into solids. This drastically decreases product size and weight.
Concentrated products
Compact by Design products can be more concentrated than similar products. A concentrated cleaner, when diluted at home, can make many gallons of cleaning solution.
Here’s how Amazon qualifies products for Compact by Design
To qualify for Compact by Design, products must have best-in-class “unit efficiency”. Amazon used product attributes such as item package dimensions, item weight, and the number of units to calculate the unit efficiency of a product. Unit is defined as the total amount of product in the container that is been evaluated. This is standardised across a product category, such as fluid ounces in cleaners, loads in laundry detergent, and ounces in coffee.
Unit efficiency is calculated as (cubed volume per unit) x (weight per unit). This metric allows to calculate the volume and weight utilisation for the number of units a product delivers. In this equation, a lower unit efficiency value means a more efficient design. For example, a concentrated laundry detergent can deliver the same number of units (loads) in a smaller volume and weight than a non-concentrated detergent, resulting in a better unit efficiency.
To set thresholds, Amazon calculated unit efficiency across items in a product category. Then it set these thresholds to recognise the most efficient products within each product category. Products with a unit efficiency better than the category threshold qualify for Compact by Design, and get to be a part of Climate Pledge Friendly.
