The initiative will launch in the Amazon
rainforest, focusing on reforestation and regenerative
agroforestry, while driving sustainable local economic
development
Amazon’s investment aims to remove up to 10
million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions through
2050—equivalent to one year of emissions from 2 million cars
As part of its efforts to support global solutions to the
climate crisis, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced the launch of
the Agroforestry and Restoration Accelerator in partnership with
The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental organization. The
Accelerator will create a more sustainable source of income for
thousands of local farmers in the Brazilian Amazonian state of
Pará, while also restoring native rainforests and fighting climate
change by naturally trapping and storing carbon.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,
nature-based solutions have a critical role to play in avoiding the
worst effects of climate change. Governments and the private sector
can both reduce carbon emissions and remove carbon from the
atmosphere by investing in nature-based solutions at scale. The
Agroforestry and Restoration Accelerator is one such carbon removal
project, and part of Amazon’s commitment to meeting The Climate
Pledge, which the company co-founded with Global Optimism.
Signatories to the Pledge commit to reaching net-zero carbon by
2040—10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement.
As part of its commitment to meet The Climate Pledge, Amazon is
first and foremost continuing to innovate and invest in
decarbonizing its businesses. The company has purchased 100,000
electric delivery vehicles, and is the largest corporate buyer of
renewable energy in the world. Amazon is also investing in
nature-based solutions outside of its value chain through the Right
Now Climate Fund, which supports the Accelerator and other projects
to restore degraded lands in ways that improve the livelihoods of
local communities and remove carbon from the atmosphere.
Additionally, through the recently announced LEAF Coalition—a
public-private initiative to mobilize at least $1 billion to
protect the world’s tropical forests—Amazon and other partners are
working to curb tropical deforestation, reducing the amount of
carbon emitted in the atmosphere.
“Restoring the world’s forests is one of the most meaningful
actions we can take right now to address climate change, and it
will require innovative solutions to be successful,” said Kara
Hurst, vice president of worldwide sustainability at Amazon. “We
are proud to launch the Agroforestry and Restoration Accelerator in
partnership with The Nature Conservancy to support solutions that
prioritize high environmental integrity and strong community
benefits. Amazon is looking forward to contributing our passion for
innovation along with financial support to improve the livelihoods
of local communities in Brazil, while helping to protect the planet
for future generations.”
“Science is unequivocal in regarding natural systems as the
priority for absorbing carbon from the atmosphere and the latest
IPCC report underscores this,” said Christiana Figueres, co-founder
of Global Optimism and former UN climate chief responsible for the
Paris Agreement. “Protecting standing ecosystems and restoring
degraded land are critical as carbon mitigation strategies,
especially over the next decade or two. Projects that achieve this
to sustain both nature and the livelihoods of the local community
are invaluable to the transformation needed to thrive well beyond
the climate crisis. Kudos to Amazon and The Nature
Conservancy.”
Amazon’s initial investment in the Accelerator will support
3,000 farmers and restore approximately 20,000 hectares—a land mass
approximately the size of the City of Seattle—within three years,
removing up to 10 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere through 2050.
The Nature Conservancy will work together with the World
Agroforestry Centre and several local civil society organizations
to implement the Accelerator by helping small farmers restore
degraded cattle pastures to native forest and agroforestry. The
agroforestry systems will provide farmers with a sustainable source
of income through the sale of cocoa and other crops. The
Accelerator will also experiment with innovative ways to support
farmers and nurture markets for sustainable forest-based
commodities, including with digital technologies, and will advance
new methodologies and satellite-based technologies for quantifying
and monitoring carbon removal.
“Pará is home to 9% percent of the world’s tropical forest, but
it’s facing unprecedented rates of deforestation, losing 3,300
acres every day in the last year,” said Jennifer Morris, CEO, The
Nature Conservancy. “Over the last 13 years, small farms in Pará—an
area where slash-and-burn agriculture can seem like the only
option—were responsible for an average of 40% of the state’s
deforestation. For 20 years, The Nature Conservancy has worked with
small farmers, community leaders, government officials, and
Indigenous peoples to identify and implement win-win solutions,
like agroforestry, that help people and nature thrive. This new
partnership with Amazon will allow us to provide the resources and
technical assistance needed to advance this program and demonstrate
that regenerative agroforestry and carbon markets are viable
business models for communities in the Amazon.”
"We must join forces to achieve what may be the goal of the
century: to develop our economies and safeguard people's income,
while preserving and restoring the forest,” said Helder Barbalho,
Governor of Pará. "The state of Pará is ready to tackle this
challenge, and our strategy is clearly laid out in our Amazonia
Agora plan, which commits us to being carbon free by 2036, through
the reduction of deforestation and by promoting forest restoration.
Investments, such as Amazon's, in sustainable agroforestry and
reforestation in Pará are very welcome. This initiative will
significantly benefit the state's community, natural resources, and
biodiversity."
For more information on Amazon’s commitment to sustainability,
visit: https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: Customer obsession rather
than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to
operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Amazon strives to
be Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company, Earth’s Best Employer,
and Earth’s Safest Place to Work. Customer reviews, 1-Click
shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by
Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Career Choice, Fire
tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Just Walk Out technology,
Amazon Studios, and The Climate Pledge are some of the things
pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about
and follow @AmazonNews.
About The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy is a global conservation organization
dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life
depends. Guided by science, we create innovative, on-the-ground
solutions to our world's toughest challenges so that nature and
people can thrive together. We are tackling climate change,
conserving lands, waters and oceans at an unprecedented scale,
providing food and water sustainably and helping make cities more
sustainable. Working in 72 countries and territories: 38 by direct
conservation impact and 34 through partners, we use a collaborative
approach that engages local communities, governments, the private
sector, and other partners. To learn more, visit www.nature.org or
follow @nature_press on Twitter.
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