Governance
Strong governance is behind the culture of invention and curiosity that has driven our business across regions and industries. Today, our focus is on implementing best practice governance principles to operate an ethical business that our stakeholders trust.
Amazon’s Board of Directors is responsible for the control and direction of Amazon and regularly reviews and reports on various aspects of our business, including related risks and the strategies for addressing them.
While the entire Board has overall responsibility for risk oversight, the Board has delegated specific responsibility to certain committees, including the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, the Leadership Development and Compensation Committee, and the Audit Committee.
Learn more about our committee charters on our Investor Relations website.
In 2021, as part of our corporate governance engagement, we met with corporate governance representatives at shareholders owning over 35% of our stock (not counting the approximately 13% voted by our founder and Executive Chair) and responded to numerous letters from our investors.
Amazon encourages and enforces strict adherence to local, state, federal, and international laws.
Our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (Code of Conduct) outlines the behavior we expect from employees regarding potential ethical issues such as conflicts of interest, insider trading, discrimination and harassment, and compliance.
Amazon understands that customers care how their personal data is collected, used, and shared, and we work every day to earn and maintain customer trust.
Our principled approach to privacy across all of our products and services, our begins with transparency, customer control, and security. We also offer the training we use for our own employees free to individuals and businesses to enhance cybersecurity awareness beyond Amazon.
Like our business interests, our policy issues are broad, forward thinking, and driven by what is best for our customers.
We engage with authorities at the local, state, national, and international levels to oversee the seamless operations of our international business through different legislative demands and compliance requirements. Our Public Policy teams work with a wide range of policymakers, multilateral organizations, industry associations, coalitions, and other partners across numerous regulatory and policy issues.
We have publicly stated our position on several key issues. These include, but are not limited to:
- Our belief that the minimum federal wage should be raised
- Our statement that bold action is needed to combat human-induced climate change
- Our recognition of the fundamental importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Our support for the Black, LGBTQ+, and indigenous communities
- Our commitment to access to affordable housing
- Our belief in the protection of data privacy
- Our support for common sense immigration reform
- Our commitment to help promote democracy and respect for human rights
Read details of our positions on About Amazon.
In 2021, we supported the U.S. federal government’s actions to address climate change, including supporting emissions-reducing investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the climate provisions in the proposed Build Back Better legislation. We advocated for alternative fuel vehicles, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, sustainable aviation fuels, renewable electricity data, federal fleet electrification, wind and solar energy, and low-carbon research and development. We also joined the We Mean Business Coalition in calling for the U.S. to set as soon as possible an ambitious and attainable emissions-reduction goal by 2030. We also publicly supported the low-carbon fuels standard proposed by the state of Washington.
In addition, we continue to:
- Advocate for higher federal and state minimum wages
- Renew our commitment to immigrant rights and immigration reform
- Collaborate with the public sector on housing equity
- Call for greater support and funding for computer science education in public schools, especially in underrepresented communities
