Amazon’s Carbon Footprint Increases, How Tesla Lost The Affordable Electric Vehicle Race And Generac’s Home Microgrids

This week’s Current Climate, which every Saturday brings you the latest news about the business of sustainability. Sign up to get it in your inbox every week.

In 2019, Amazon cofounded The Climate Pledge, a commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. Since then, the company’s carbon footprint has increased by nearly 40%. Amazon’s carbon footprint was 51.17 million metric tons in 2019 and grew to 71.54 million metric tons in 2021, according to the company’s sustainability report released this week. Amazon said the increase was driven by growth during the pandemic across both its consumer e-commerce and cloud businesses, which required building new facilities and expanding its transportation network.

Attempting to deflect away from the total carbon footprint, the report suggested companies should also be judged on whether they are lowering “carbon intensity,” which is total carbon emissions per dollar of gross merchandise sales. While Amazon has continued to decrease its carbon intensity, the year-over-year change was much smaller. From 2019 to 2020, Amazon decreased its carbon intensity by more than 16%. From 2020 to 2021, the decrease was 1.9%.

The Big Read

Backup Plan: How Generac Thrives Amid Grid Blackouts And Natural Disasters

Milwaukee-based Generac has an 80% market share in the home backup generator business and a six-month order backlog. But rather than just selling “a product people hope they never use,” CEO Aaron Jagdfeld has big ideas for the company’s future: home microgrids. He wants to start marketing an “energy independence” package pairing gas, solar and batteries, all optimized with machine learning software that manages your heating and cooling with an eye toward making you money. Read more here.

Discoveries And Innovations

The sun is getting more active than NASA predicted, and it’s possible the current 11-year sun cycle may end up being the strongest on record – ever since scientists first started recording sunspots in 1755.

Black asphalt stores and retains heat. Roofing and waterproofing manufacturer GAF (part of Standard Industries) has launched a pilot project to see if solar reflective coatings can help reduce temperatures in a 10-block neighborhood in Los Angeles.

Morocco’s minister of energy transition and sustainable development says the country is installing thousands of megawatts of renewable energy capacity as it aims to become an exporter to North Africa and Europe.

Bicycle transport levels in England increased 47% on weekdays in the first five months of the year, as commuters reacted to rising fuel prices.