Amazon bypasses carbon offset standard funded by Bezos
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Amazon has become the first company to bypass a global standard for verifying carbon offsets, developed by a non-profit largely funded by its founder and executive chair, Jeff Bezos.
Instead, Amazon is supporting the creation of a new standard, which could help the online retailer and cloud-computing provider address the shortage of quality-labeled offsets and aid its goal of achieving Net-Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.
However, critics are concerned that this move could cause market confusion and compromise the integrity of carbon offset standards.
Amazon informed Reuters that it has completed work on Abacus, a framework for verifying the quality of carbon offsets in reforestation and agroforestry.
This standard was developed in collaboration with carbon registry Verra as an alternative to the one created by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM).
According to Reuters, Jamey Mulligan, Amazon’s head of carbon neutralization, said in an interview that the company evaluated and supported ICVCM’s work but wanted a more ambitious standard.
Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Salesforce plan to buy up to 20 million metric tons of Abacus-certified credits.
The $2-billion market for voluntary carbon offsets has remained limited due to concerns from companies and investors that the projects may not reduce emissions as effectively as claimed.
Read more: Confidential documents reveal carbon offsets are largely ineffective
According to an Environmental Defense Fund analysis of data from financial information provider MSCI, the market offsets 300 million metric tons of emissions annually. However, only a small portion of these offsets are verified, with ICVCM’s main quality label, CCP, accounting for just 27 million tons.
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