Amazon reported 80.85 million metric tons of greenhouse-gas emissions in 2025, about 16.2% more than in 2024. The increase came as the company expanded data centers and its broader business, despite its commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions across its global operations by 2040. Amazon has not said it achieved carbon neutrality: the pledge is a future net-zero target, and the latest figures show absolute emissions moving in the wrong direction.
What increased in Amazon’s 2025 footprint?
Amazon’s 2025 Sustainability Report compares 80.85 million metric tons of carbon-dioxide equivalent (MMTCO₂e) in 2025 with 69.55 MMTCO₂e in 2024. The company’s reported carbon intensity also rose year over year. These are distinct measures: total emissions count the reported footprint, while intensity measures emissions relative to revenue.
| Reported measure | 2024 | 2025 | Year-over-year change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total emissions | 69.55 MMTCO₂e | 80.85 MMTCO₂e | About +16.2% |
| Scope 1: direct emissions | 15.13 MMTCO₂e | 15.37 MMTCO₂e | About +2% |
| Scope 2: purchased electricity | 2.80 MMTCO₂e | 3.74 MMTCO₂e | About +34% |
| Scope 3: indirect value-chain emissions | 51.62 MMTCO₂e | 61.74 MMTCO₂e | About +20% |
| Carbon intensity per dollar of revenue | 109.0 grams CO₂e | 112.8 grams CO₂e | About +3.5% |
All figures are Amazon-reported and appear in its 2025 Sustainability Report. Scope 1 covers direct sources such as fuel burned in company operations; Scope 2 covers purchased electricity; Scope 3 includes emissions across the value chain. Amazon says Scope 3 represented 76% of its total footprint in 2025.
Why did emissions rise?
Data centers and electricity demand
Amazon links the increase in purchased-electricity emissions in part to higher electricity use associated with advanced technologies and data-center growth. Expansion of cloud and AI infrastructure is a major part of that picture, but the available figures do not establish that AI alone caused the increase. Data Center Dynamics also identifies data-center capacity additions as a predominant driver of the 2025 rise and distinguishes annual renewable matching from round-the-clock clean power.
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Construction, hardware and suppliers
Building and equipping data centers generates emissions beyond the electricity those facilities use. Amazon’s Scope 3 category includes construction materials, hardware manufacturing, purchased goods and services, and transportation provided by third parties. That category rose 20% in 2025, making the supply chain—not just Amazon’s own buildings and vehicles—central to understanding the total.
Growth across the business
Amazon reported overall revenue growth of 12% in 2025 and AWS growth of 20%. More business activity can mean more electricity, equipment, buildings and transportation. Electrifying delivery can also shift some emissions from direct fuel use into electricity consumption, depending on the power grid and accounting method.
The breakdown matters: direct emissions rose about 2%, far less than purchased-electricity emissions or Scope 3. It would therefore be misleading to describe delivery vans or warehouses as the main explanation for the reported increase.
How Amazon’s long-term progress compares with 2025
Amazon’s counterargument is that its business has grown faster than its emissions over the longer term. It reports carbon intensity 38% below 2019 levels while revenue increased 156% over that period. It also reports emissions per shipped unit down 7% from 2024 and 39% from 2019. Those measures suggest improved efficiency on the stated comparisons, but neither means total emissions fell in 2025. In fact, the company’s revenue-based carbon intensity increased from 109.0 to 112.8 grams of CO₂e per dollar that year.
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The company also reports several initiatives that may help curb future emissions:
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- It matched electricity consumed by its global operations with renewable-energy sources for the third consecutive year.
- It had more than 52,700 electric delivery vans globally at the end of 2025, against a target of at least 100,000 by 2030, and reported delivering 2.4 billion packages by electric vehicle during 2025.
- It used lower-carbon construction materials in 61 projects, which Amazon estimates avoided 195,000 metric tons of embodied CO₂e compared with conventional materials.
- Amazon said 62% of its top suppliers had what it calls credible decarbonization plans by the end of 2025.
These are reported actions and estimates, not proof that Amazon’s overall footprint is declining. In 2025, total emissions still rose.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why 100% renewable matching does not mean zero emissions
Amazon’s electricity claim is about matching annual electricity consumption with renewable-energy sources. Its report says emissions use a market-based methodology that incorporates environmental-attribute credits. Such accounting can recognize renewable procurement, but it does not establish that every facility used carbon-free electricity at every hour or that the electricity physically supplied to a particular data center was renewable.
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Nor does electricity matching eliminate emissions from the rest of the value chain. Manufacturing servers, constructing facilities and moving goods can create Scope 3 emissions regardless of how Amazon accounts for purchased electricity. Renewable matching and lower total emissions are related goals, but they are not interchangeable outcomes.
What the increase means for Amazon’s 2040 pledge
Amazon’s formal commitment is net-zero carbon emissions across its global operations by 2040, part of The Climate Pledge, which it co-founded in 2019. The company has not withdrawn that target. Net zero is not the same as having no emissions today: it generally requires deep reductions, with any residual emissions addressed through neutralization or removals.
A one-year rise does not by itself prove that a 2040 target is impossible. But Amazon’s 2025 results are a substantial setback against the expected direction: both absolute emissions and annual carbon intensity increased. A lower long-term intensity and improvements in delivery efficiency provide relevant context, yet they do not cancel out the rise in total tonnes.
For the pledge to remain credible, the key test is whether Amazon can reverse the absolute trend as its infrastructure expands, including through lower-carbon electricity, more efficient facilities, lower-emissions construction and supplier reductions. The company’s own report calls absolute emissions critical to its 2040 objective and treats intensity as an interim measure of whether growth is becoming less emissions-intensive. The Climate Pledge sets out the commitment; Amazon’s sustainability report archive provides the company’s published progress reporting.
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