SEATTLE: Amazon and climate advocate Global Optimism say over 300 companies have now signed their Climate Pledge.

New sector signatories include Lineage Logistics, Maersk, Paack Logistics and Pallet LOOP plus recipients of Amazon’s US$2 billion venture capital fund: Bet Air Technologies, an electric aerospace company, and Infinium, a renewable fuels technology company, that aim to help decarbonise the global transportation sector.

Responsible for approximately 7.3 billion tonnes of carbon emissions in 2020, Amazon says nearly 13 percent of Climate Pledge signatories represent transportation, aviation and logistics sectors.

"In the face of great peril, which is what the latest science depicts, the business community must have a clear path forward: Step up and accelerate emissions reductions so that we might avoid the worst of the damages yet to come,” said Christiana Figueres, founding partner of Global Optimism and former executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

“It’s encouraging, therefore, that 300 companies are committed to working together to achieve net-zero by 2040 or sooner through The Climate Pledge. But 300 companies are not enough to deliver the transformations we need. I encourage all business leaders to get to grips with the science, translate it for their businesses, and enable the changes we need without delay,” she added.

In 2019 Amazon and Global Optimism co-founded The Climate Pledge, a commitment to reach the Paris Agreement 10 years early and be net-zero carbon by 2040. Sign-ups must agree to:

• Measure and report greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis.

• Implement decarbonisation strategies in line with the Paris Agreement through real business changes and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions, and other carbon emission elimination strategies.

• Neutralize any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially beneficial offsets to achieve net-zero annual carbon emissions by 2040.

Fort more information: https://globaloptimism.com