Devices
Part of our mission to be Earth’s most customer-centric company is to offer more-sustainable devices without compromising on quality or cost. This includes designing our devices with carbon reduction in mind and manufacturing them using responsibly sourced materials. It also involves confirming the sustainable credentials of our devices with trusted third-party certifications.
We measure carbon emissions throughout the lifecycle of our devices—from production, through customer use, to disposal. We aim for each generation of Amazon devices to be more carbon-efficient than the last.
In 2020, Amazon became the first consumer electronics company to commit to addressing the electricity used by our devices through renewable energy development, starting with our Echo devices. At the end of 2022, we contracted enough renewable energy capacity through new wind and solar farms to equal the expected energy use of Echo, Fire TV, and Ring devices globally in 2025. Some of these farms are operational today, and others are currently under construction, expected to begin operating in 2023-2024.
Today, new devices feature Low Power Mode, and we’re delivering updates to introduce this feature for older devices already in customers’ homes.
We incorporate recycled materials into many new Amazon devices.
In 2022, we launched Echo, Fire TV, Fire tablet, Kindle, and smart home products that include up 75% recycled plastic, up to 100% recycled yarn, up to 100% recycled aluminum, and up to 90% recycled magnesium, depending on the product. We also incorporated 50% recycled plastic into certain power adapters that ship with our devices.
To advance the move to safer chemistry, we joined ChemFORWARD as a co-design partner. Through this partnership, we’re collaborating with industry peers to proactively identify harmful chemicals and safer alternatives ahead of regulations.
In 2020, we set a very ambitious goal to make Amazon device packaging 100% recyclable by 2023, a first for the consumer electronics industry. By the end of 2022, 79.5% (31 of 39) of our 2022 product launches had 100% recyclable packaging. Additionally, we’re working to source 100% of the wood fiber in our packaging from responsibly managed forests or recycled sources.
We’re making it easier for customers in the U.S. to understand their home energy use with the Alexa energy dashboard.
The dashboard tracks the estimated usage of select Alexa-connected devices that tend to have the biggest impact on their home’s energy usage like thermostats and water heaters. Alexa can also let customers know when the CO2 emissions associated with the electricity generated in their area are lower so that they can decide when it may be better to perform more energy-intensive activities like laundry and dishwashing.
Customers can also enable Alexa to help them conserve energy with Hunches. For example, if Alexa has a Hunch that a customer is away and forgot to turn off a light, Alexa can automatically turn it off, helping customers save energy and reduce carbon emissions.
In 2022, we published a paper called Decarbonizing and Neutralizing the Use Phase of Connected Devices. The paper focuses on how we’re integrating carbon-reduction strategies across the use phase of our devices.
We invite other companies and manufacturers to join the mission of driving to a net-zero carbon use phase.
