Amazon Sidesteps Carbon Offset Standard Funded by Bezos

Amazon has chosen to bypass a carbon offset standard that was financially supported by Jeff Bezos. This decision brings into question Amazon's dedication to reducing its carbon footprint and commitment to environmental sustainability, especially since Bezos, the company's founder, had a role in funding the standard. The move has sparked discussions about the effectiveness and authenticity of corporate environmental initiatives, highlighting potential conflicts between corporate actions and stated sustainability goals.

Boston Brand Media brings you the latest news - Amazon (AMZN.O) has become the first company to bypass a global standard for verifying carbon offsets, a standard developed by a non-profit organization primarily funded by Jeff Bezos, the founder and executive chair of the U.S. technology conglomerate.

Amazon is supporting the creation of a new standard that may help the online retailer and cloud-computing provider address the shortage of high-quality offsets, thereby aiding its goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.

Critics are concerned that this shift might cause market confusion and lower the quality standards for carbon offsets.

Companies facing pressure to reduce their emissions can purchase credits from developers of carbon-absorbing projects, such as reforestation initiatives. However, the market for offsets has remained small due to the limited number of projects capable of verifying their climate benefits.

Amazon informed Reuters that it has finished developing Abacus, a framework for verifying the quality of carbon offsets in reforestation and agroforestry. This standard, created in collaboration with the carbon registry Verra, serves as an alternative to the one established by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM), the largest global coalition of private sector and environmental groups focused on validating carbon offsets. Verra initially announced its collaboration with Amazon and its Abacus working group in 2022.

Through his $10-billion Earth Fund, established to combat climate change, Bezos has become one of ICVCM's major donors, contributing at least $11 million to ICVCM and its sister organization, the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative, since their inception in 2021.

In an interview, Jamey Mulligan, Amazon's head of carbon neutralization, stated that while the company evaluated and supported ICVCM's work, it sought a more ambitious standard.

"We want to ensure that every credit investment has a real, conservatively quantified, and verified impact on emissions," Mulligan said. He declined to comment on whether Bezos was involved in Amazon's decision. Bezos could not be reached for comment.

Alphabet (GOOGL.O), Meta (META.O), Microsoft (MSFT.O), and Salesforce (CRM.N) have announced plans to purchase up to 20 million metric tons of Abacus-certified credits.

Boston Brand Media also found that, Pedro Martins Barata, co-chair of ICVCM's panel of experts, expressed concern about the development of an alternative standard, hoping that Abacus would eventually be integrated into ICVCM. "Otherwise, you get into a confusing state in the market where each set of companies will find their own standards they want to support and claim a particular type of quality," he said.

Martins Barata added that ICVCM was reviewing Verra's methodology for developing carbon offsets from agroforestry and reforestation projects. If approved, this could align the Abacus label with ICVCM's standards.

Kelley Kizzier, director of corporate action and markets at the Bezos Earth Fund and a member of ICVCM's board, stated that Abacus is complementary rather than competitive to ICVCM. She also declined to comment on Bezos' involvement. "What we need to focus on is generating high-integrity offsets. There is room for many actors to do that," Kizzier said.

Verra announced that the label would be available within weeks.

OFFSET MARKET

The $2-billion market for voluntary carbon offsets has remained small due to concerns from companies and investors that the projects behind these offsets may not reduce as many emissions as claimed.

According to an Environmental Defense Fund analysis of data from financial information provider MSCI, the market offsets 300 million metric tons of emissions annually. However, only a small portion of these offsets are verified, with ICVCM's main quality label, CCP, accounting for just 27 million tons.

"My main concern with the strategy remains with the idea that the purchase of these credits somehow 'neutralizes' Amazon's impact. I don't think it does," said Gilles Dufrasne, policy lead at environmental non-profit Carbon Market Watch.

Deborah Lawrence, chief scientist at credit ratings firm Calyx Global, welcomed the label's requirement to publicize data on how much carbon the projects store but expressed concerns about Abacus’ ability to ensure the permanence of carbon removals. "Their permanence position requires further investigation," she said. "The way it is phrased is giving us pause, but their annual monitoring and making the results public are great ideas and raise the bar."

According to Amazon's latest sustainability report, the company generated 71.3 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions in 2022, with 54.98 million tons coming from its supply chain.

It will take two to three years for projects to qualify for the Abacus label because many rely on trees growing and then developers proving how much carbon they absorb. Mulligan said Amazon could become one of the biggest carbon-credit buyers, but it would not use them in place of the company's efforts to decarbonize its business. He added that Amazon is currently reviewing more than 70 proposals from developers and expects to restore tens of thousands of hectares of degraded land.

Any developer can apply for the Abacus label provided they meet the requirements of Verra's methodology, which was developed with input from the Abacus working group, a team of scientists, non-governmental organizations, and industry specialists.

Eron Bloomgarden, founder of Emergent, a non-profit organization that mobilizes private-sector funding for forest countries, said Abacus would help grow the carbon-offset market. "The work of ICVCM is important, but it's insufficient for the growth of the market, because what we are trying to do is solve big existential challenges like climate change and biodiversity extinction," he said.

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Source: Reuters‍