Amazon announced in late 2020 a new Climate Pledge Friendly Program—an initiative designed to make it easier for Amazon shoppers to discover and purchase more sustainable products. Climate Pledge Friendly products also referred to as CPF, are clearly labeled in shopping results and have additional sustainability information on the product detail page. This is just one way Amazon is committed to building a more sustainable business for its customers and the planet. In this post, we will discuss:
The Climate Pledge
Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge, along with Global Optimism, to encourage companies to adopt more ambitious carbon emissions goals. In particular, they hope to mobilize the private sector to reach net-zero carbon by 2024—which is 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement! Their goals for the future include:
- Accelerating company’s goals to meet The Climate Pledge
- Mobilize supply chains to take measurable action on climate change
- Determine accountable means for companies to integrate nature-based solutions in their climate strategies
In order to meet these lofty climate goals and reaffirm their commitment, Amazon is taking a science-based approach to measuring, then reducing, and finally eliminating carbon emissions within their company. Amazon’s commitment is as follows:
- Net-Zero Carbon: Deploying technology and people to reach net-zero carbon across Amazon by 2040
- Shipment Zero: Making all Amazon shipments net-zero carbon—with 50% of all shipments net zero carbon by 2030
- Climate Pledge Fund: Investing $2 billion to support technologies and services that reduce carbon emissions and preserve the natural world
- 100% Renewable Energy: Powering operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025
- 100,000 Electric Delivery Vehicles: Purchasing 100,000 electric vehicles—the largest order ever—to build a more sustainable business for Amazon customers and the planet
- Right Now Climate Fund: Investing $100 million in reforestation projects and climate mitigation solutions
What is the Climate Pledge Friendly Program?
In conjunction with The Climate Pledge, Amazon launched the Climate Pledge Friendly Program on their own platform to ensure all sustainable products are clearly labeled for consumers. By highlighting products that meet sustainability standards and help preserve the natural world, Amazon is helping to create a more sustainable business. Each product now displays a clear label that appears in shopping results, has additional sustainability information on the product page, and is featured in a dedicated section on the Amazon store.
Currently, Amazon carries more than 25,000 sustainable products, which all have one or more of the 19 different sustainability certifications—including Amazon’s own certification program known as Compact by Design. These certified products can be found across the grocery, household, fashion, beauty, and personal electronics categories on Amazon.
What is Compact by Design?
Amazon introduced their very own sustainability certification called Compact by Design. As part of the climate initiative, Amazon wanted an innovative way to identify products sold on their website that have a more efficient design. These products will require less packaging and are smaller and lighter, making them more efficient to ship. According to Amazon, “With the removal of excess air and water, products require less packaging and become more efficient to ship. At scale, these small differences in product size and weight lead to significant carbon emission reductions.”
Qualifications for Compact by Design
According to Amazon, to qualify for Compact by Design, products must have best-in-class “unit efficiency.” They use product attributes like item packaging dimensions, item weight, and the number of units to calculate the unit efficiency of a product. Here’s how they calculate it:
Unit efficiency is calculated as (cubed volume per unit) x (weight per unit). This metric allows Amazon to calculate the volume and weight utilization for the number of units a product delivers.
A lower unit efficiency score means a more efficient design in this equation. Amazon calculates unit efficiency across items in a single product category—they do this to recognize the most efficient products within each category and create a standard. Products with an efficiency better than the standard qualify for Compact by Design, and get to be a part of Climate Pledge Friendly.
What Products Qualify for Climate Pledge Friendly Program?
The Climate Pledge Friendly Program identifies products and brands with improvements in at least one aspect of sustainability. Amazon partnered with a variety of external certifications, including government agencies, non-profit organizations, and independent laboratories, to help identify these sustainable products.
A product must have at least one of the sustainability certifications listed on the certification page—including Amazon’s Compact by Design certification. This may qualify your brand or product to be eligible to display the Amazon Climate Pledge Friendly badge.
How to Apply for the Climate Pledge Friendly Program?
The bad news is you can’t apply for this program as there isn’t any application process. The good news is that Climate Pledge Friendly products are identified using automated data updates from the certifiers.
This means you don’t need to do anything! Amazon Sellers should review the full list of sustainability certifications and if a product is already certified, you don’t need to make any updates or changes to your product data. Amazon will receive updates from the certifiers themselves to identify Climate Pledge Friendly products and you should automatically be enrolled.
If you or your brand is working towards getting a particular certification or you want to apply, Amazon encourages sellers to work directly with the certifying program based on your sustainability goals.
Climate Pledge Friendly Badge Not Displaying?
If your product qualifies but doesn’t display a badge, make certain that the whole product is actually certified—not the product packaging or an individual component of your product. Once you’ve reviewed your product and you still believe your product qualifies, you should contact Amazon. Here are the steps:
- Log in to your Seller Central account
- Go to the ‘Help’ tab
- Click on ‘Get Support’
- Click ‘Selling on Amazon’
- Go to the bottom of the ‘Describe Your Issue’ blank box and click ‘Or, browse for your issue in the menu’
- Then, under ‘Products, Listings, or Inventory’ find the ‘Climate Pledge Friendly’ tab
- Fill in all the necessary information to contact Amazon and open a case
Be prepared to answer the questions below in your case as this may speed up the qualification process for your brand or product.
- Describe your issue:
- Subject:
- ASIN Title:
- Certification this contact concerns (if applicable):
- If you are contacting us about Compact by Design, please include the following:
- Item height (inches):
- Item length (inches):
- Item width (inches):
- Item weight (pounds):
Conclusion
Amazon is committed to building a more sustainable business through The Climate Pledge. They’ve taken ambitious steps to ensure a more sustainable future for our planet. Along with that, Amazon has identified that more and more customers are looking for these types of products so they’ve taken the necessary steps to ensure customers are finding these products more easily. This is a great opportunity to showcase products that appeal to a younger generation of shoppers—who openly admit that they are willing to pay more for sustainable products and actively seek them out.
This is just the beginning as Amazon will continue to encourage more businesses to produce sustainable products. They will also continue to add more certifications to their list and work with manufacturers to certify more products for the future.
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