Amazon announced today that its new Sacramento, California-based fulfillment center is on track to become the first logistics facility in the world to achieve Zero Carbon Certification by the International Living Future Institute.
The same-day fulfilment center, “SCA5,” was built using sustainable building materials and is powered with 100% renewable energy.
The announcement is the latest in a series of moves announced by Amazon over the past several years, aimed at achieving its goal to reach net zero emissions across its operations by 2040. The company has already emerged as the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy, and is on track to power 100% of company activities with renewables by 2025, and it has also announced significant investments to electrify its delivery fleet.
Kara Hurst, Vice President of Worldwide Sustainability at Amazon, said:
“This new facility represents a leap forward in sustainable construction for our global operations, which we intend to use as a model for future buildings across Amazon, as we continue working towards meeting our Climate Pledge commitment to be net-zero carbon across our operations by 2040. This facility is great for our customers—letting us deliver packages within just a few hours—and also great for the community and our planet because it was built to reduce its environmentalEnvironmental criteria consider how a company performs as a steward of nature. More impact.”
Hurst outlined several of the facilities’ sustainability attributes, including construction with low-carbon concrete, a fully electrified HVAC system, high-efficiency material handling equipment, and smart irrigation systems reduce water usage by sensing moisture and rain.
The ILFI certification is the first worldwide Zero Carbon third party certification standard. Requirements for buildings under the standard include the achievement of energy and embodied carbon reduction targets, 100% renewable energy use, and offsetting of 100% of emissions associated with construction.
The program requires buildings to be verified by a third-party after a 12-month performance period, and Amazon said it expects to receive certification by 2023, after one full year of operations in facility.
Lindsay Baker, CEO of the International Living Future Institute, said:
“Amazon’s SCA5 shows that we can make progress much faster and in more transformational ways to reduce carbon emissions from buildings. As the first fulfillment center to submit for Zero Carbon Certification, this project is an important model for efforts to eliminate supply chain carbon pollution.”
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