Community before concrete: planning for people and carbon from day one

London Kemp Boykin, director of global sustainable development, shapes Amazon’s building practices to cut carbon and deliver neighborhood benefits. 

London Kemp Boykin describes her leadership style in one word: trust. She trusts her teams to take bold steps, she trusts partners to invest alongside Amazon, and she trusts herself to use an unconventional background spanning law and real estate development in her sustainability work. She previously led global real estate portfolios at Netflix, NBCUniversal, Ingram Micro, and Walmart. Now, as director of global sustainable development and North America real estate, Kemp Boykin oversees sustainability and renewable energy, building design and engineering, strategy, and cost optimization across Amazon’s Global Fulfillment Network. In practice, that means deciding where Amazon builds, what those sites look like, and how to make them more sustainable. She also serves on industry boards including the Urban Land Institute and the Real Estate Associate Program.

At Amazon, Kemp Boykin’s guiding vision is just as straightforward as how she leads: put community before concrete.

“We think about communities before we ever go to select a site,” she said. “That means asking what neighbors need before we build, then designing for both carbon goals and visible benefits people can use every day.”

Designing with people and the planet in mind

Under Kemp Boykin’s leadership, Amazon’s teams think about how projects will affect a community before they ever break ground. At new logistics hubs, that’s meant reworking access roads to ease traffic for school buses and adding shaded pedestrian routes that improve walkability and provide relief from urban heat.

Her teams also utilize advanced tools such as digital land use maps and artificial intelligence models that consider thousands of factors like cost, carbon, and regulatory risk. These tools help Amazon automate and optimize site planning and design from the start. In 2023, Amazon also introduced a biodiversity assessment model that helps evaluate ecological value, map local habitats, and identify opportunities for nature-based solutions.

“It’s about making smarter choices earlier,” Kemp Boykin said. “We can plan sites that help avoid carbon emissions and support biodiversity so they become assets for both Amazon and the communities around them.”

At several greenfield sites—undeveloped land like forests and meadows—ecological assessments showed that traditional development could endanger biodiversity. In response, Kemp Boykin’s teams are piloting regenerative strategies like creating pollinator corridors, capturing stormwater, and improving tree canopies to support cleaner air, healthier neighborhoods, and ecological resilience, so that ecosystems can better recover from shocks like extreme weather.

Scaling impact through partnership

Kemp Boykin believes partners must work together to prioritize communities more broadly in the industry. Through Amazon’s Global Realty Investment Partnership Program, her teams have collaborated with developers and landlords to advance renewable energy and sustainable design.

At one European site, a landlord agreement funded most of a solar and thermal system that now generates renewable energy for Amazon operations. In North America, Amazon and development partners have initiated multiple renewable energy agreements and electric vehicle charging pilot projects, helping Amazon lower costs while expanding clean energy access.

“These aren’t just one-off projects,” Kemp Boykin said. “We’ve built a framework that can be repeated across our portfolio. That’s how you move from good ideas to lasting change.”

Turning materials into community value

Kemp Boykin also challenges her teams to think differently about resources. At our sortation facility in Liberty, Missouri, the largest logistics building in North America to achieve the Zero Carbon Certification from the International Living Future Institute, Amazon integrated lower-carbon materials with energy-efficient systems such as high-efficiency air conditioning and air curtains on doors. The result is a facility that serves the Kansas City metro area while reducing annual energy use by about 33% compared to the industry baseline.

This approach to development does more than cut carbon. It provides a more comfortable environment for associates, sets a new benchmark for logistics facilities, and demonstrates how sustainable design can both lower costs and drive innovation at scale.

“It’s an example of how sustainability can strengthen local economies,” Kemp Boykin said. “We’re finding ways to help avoid emissions and create community benefits before a site even opens.”

A better blueprint

Sustainability is not just about carbon for Kemp Boykin, it’s about people. And she’s showing how Amazon can achieve climate commitments while supporting local communities.

At the beginning of every project, she asks: “What would make life better on this block?” Then she makes sure that the answer is built into every blueprint.

Learn more about Amazon’s sustainable building practices.

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