Amazon additionally is collaborating with CarbonCapture to democratize access to DAC carbon removal credits
Amazon continues to take active steps toward its own climate change goal of reaching net-zero carbon by 2040—10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement. It took a major step in 2019 when it co-founded The Climate Pledge Fund which recently made an equity investment in Carbon Capture Inc, a leading direct air capture company.
Amazon’s support of CarbonCapture did not stop there. Amazon will be working with CarbonCapture to make 100,000 tons of carbon removal credits. The credits will be made available to businesses within Amazon and among the company’s large network of suppliers, selling partners, and customers. This collaborative program works to democratize access to DAC carbon removal credits.
Kara Hurst, vice president of worldwide sustainability at Amazon, shares the goals that Amazon has set for itself in terms of climate change.
“Amazon’s primary focus is to decarbonize our global operations through our transition to renewable energy, building with more sustainable materials and electrifying our delivery fleet, and global logistics, said Hurst. “At the same time, we also need to seek every possible avenue to reduce carbon in the atmosphere. Our investments in direct air capture complement our emissions reduction plans, and we are excited to support the growth and deployment of the technology.”
The Climate Pledge Fund that has over 400 signatories includes prominent names such as Best Buy, IBM, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Siemens, Unilever, Verizon, and others. The Fund to date has invested in 23 companies and start-ups across five countries.
California-based CarbonCapture was co-founded in 2019 by Andrea Pedretti and William T. Gross. Pedretti is both entrepreneur and scientist, having founded Energy Vault SA, Airlight Energy Manufacturing SA and Airlight Energy Holding SA.
Gross is very well known as founder of idealab which has incubated and participated in over 150 companies. A recent startup that he co-founded, Compete, Inc., a digital intelligence services company, was acquired by Kantar TNS.
Becoming one of The Climate Pledge Fund’s portfolio companies has great meaning to CarbonCapture and its CEO.
“We’re extremely excited to be backed by a first-class venture investor like Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund,” said Adrian Corless, CarbonCapture’s CEO and CTO. “Further, we’re looking forward to leveraging our new relationship with Amazon to both democratize access and reduce the long-run cost of producing carbon removal credits.”
Amazon and others are building networks of talent and resources around Climate Change. Venture capital firm and accelerator SOSV inaugurated the SOSV Climate Tech 100.
