If Amazon says it doesn’t know how to hit net‑zero, who does?

# Overview

Amazon's chief sustainability officer, Kara Hurst, told an Axios event that the company does not yet know all the ways it will achieve its Climate Pledge goal of net‑zero carbon by 2040. That frank admission focuses attention on how a company of Amazon's scale can credibly pursue deep decarbonization while continuing to expand businesses that drive emissions.

# What Amazon has done so far

Hurst noted Amazon is one of the largest purchasers of clean energy globally, with 42 gigawatts in its portfolio. The company reports reductions in carbon intensity over some time frames, but its carbon intensity rose in the most recent year compared with 2024, even though it remains lower than in 2022.

# Recent choices that complicate the pledge

Earlier in 2026 an investigation revealed Amazon plans to build a 7.65 GW natural gas power plant to supply an AI data center campus. The proposal calls for 35 turbines and could produce up to 33 million tons of CO2 each year. That single project would be the largest individual source of carbon emissions in the United States.

The gas plant highlights a tension: Amazon's role as the largest cloud provider and its rapid expansion of AI services create steady demand for power. For Amazon, AI is a major revenue driver, and the company appears prepared to secure power by means that increase emissions rather than delay growth until cleaner options are fully available or scaled.

# Scale and responsibility

Amazon's revenue in the prior year was $717 billion, roughly the size of Ireland's economy. The company's operations span nearly every sector of the economy — aviation, logistics, AI, construction, agriculture and more — so its emissions footprint is distributed across many activities and suppliers.

Hurst framed the challenge as one requiring both corporate and government action: tackling climate change at the necessary scale "takes both, and it takes them working together." She also reiterated that Amazon holds itself accountable to its Climate Pledge commitment.

# Why the admission matters

An acknowledgement of incomplete plans is candid and realistic, but it prompts two practical questions: who, if not a company with Amazon's resources and market power, will build the solutions and policies required to decarbonize the sectors where Amazon operates? And how will Amazon reconcile short‑term business drivers with a multi‑decade net‑zero commitment?

# Concrete tensions

• Supplier and sector dependence: Achieving net‑zero will require coordination across suppliers and industries where Amazon has influence but limited direct control.

# Bottom line

Amazon has scale, capital and influence, and it is investing in clean energy. It also acknowledges gaps in how it will reach net‑zero by 2040. Recent decisions such as the planned gas power plant illustrate the practical and ethical tradeoffs the company faces: securing short‑term power and revenue growth while promising long‑term emissions elimination.

Those tradeoffs raise a simple practical question for readers tracking corporate climate action: if a company as large as Amazon says it doesn't yet know the route to net‑zero, governments, regulators, suppliers and other large corporations will need clearer plans and incentives to close the gap.