Amazon's UK business has set a new record for clean energy purchases, buying up more than any other single firm in the country. In Britain, the company now has five large-scale clean energy projects and 26 on-site solar developments with over 560MW of capacity. This represents enough renewable energy generation to power over 600,000 homes every year. It will now continue to invest in renewable projects across the UK to directly support its British operations.
Last year, Amazon increased its capacity by 8.3GW by investing in 133 new projects across 11 countries. In total, its portfolio now exceeds 20GW, which is equivalent to the amount needed to heat over 15 million European homes. Amazon is continuing to bring new solar and wind projects online to power its data centres, physical stores and fulfilment centres.
Its ongoing commitment to renewable energy investment means that it has now become a corporate leader in clean energy investment. It has remained the world's most prominent corporate buyer of clean energy since 2020, according to figures produced by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. It does this by investing in clean energy technologies, new deal structures for power purchase agreements and cloud data development.
The company is now focusing on its goal to power its entire global operation with 100% renewables by 2025. Its original target was to achieve this goal by 2030. The news of Amazon's achievements may be at odds with analyst expectations and public perceptions. Amazon has come under heavy fire in recent years for its labour practices, excessive deliveries, energy-demanding data centres and near monopoly in some market segments which has pushed smaller, local businesses out of operation. It now has a chance to show the markets that it really can be a sustainable, clean and ethical business.