Amazon is expanding its Sustainability Exchange, offering businesses new tools to reduce emissions beyond their own operations, including low-carbon fuel embedded credits and refrigerant destruction credits. Launched in 2024, the platform aims to share decarbonization solutions and foster collaboration across value chains, with resources doubling over the past year.
Amazon stated that the platform's goal is to help companies of all sizes accelerate climate action, particularly suppliers and logistics partners within its ecosystem. "No organization can achieve net-zero carbon emissions alone," the company said in announcing the expansion. "That's why in 2024, we launched the Sustainability Exchange to drive collaboration and share credible decarbonization solutions for companies of all sizes."
This move reflects a growing corporate recognition that supply chain emissions often constitute the largest portion of a carbon footprint and are challenging to address. Low-carbon fuels like renewable diesel and biodiesel are crucial for decarbonizing transportation but access can be limited. Embedded credits serve as environmental attribute certificates, allowing companies to finance emission reductions even when direct fuel switching is not feasible.
For example, a company operating a diesel fleet can purchase renewable diesel embedded credits, supporting low-carbon fuel production and accounting for the corresponding emission reductions. Crane Worldwide Logistics has already adopted the program, with Sustainability Director Carlos Pacheco highlighting the value of collaboration. "By partnering with Amazon on its carbon embedded credit program, we believe we are contributing to the demand for real and efficient carbon reduction in areas important to our business," Pacheco said.
Amazon currently offers credits for renewable diesel and biodiesel based on waste feedstocks and plans to introduce low-carbon marine fuel credits to address shipping emissions. Simultaneously, the platform is expanding refrigerant destruction credits. These gases are potent greenhouse gases and significant contributors to near-term warming. With an estimated 7.7 million tons of refrigerants remaining globally, their release poses a climate risk. Companies can purchase credits to fund their safe destruction, delivering immediate climate benefits.
Amazon positions its carbon credit services as a structured entry point into the voluntary carbon market, focusing on quality, verification, and reputational risk. The company recently published case studies highlighting businesses in professional services, electronics, and real estate using credits to support decarbonization strategies. These businesses are all signatories of The Climate Pledge, co-founded by Amazon in 2019, which commits signatories to achieve net-zero carbon by 2040.
More than 630 companies from dozens of countries have joined the pledge, reflecting increasing alignment between the private sector and global climate goals. The expansion to include low-carbon fuel embedded credits and refrigerant destruction credits illustrates a shift in corporate climate strategy from internal efficiency to value chain transformation. For executives and investors, this underscores the importance of verified carbon tools and strategies that extend beyond operational boundaries. As regulations tighten, scalable platforms like the Sustainability Exchange could become critical infrastructure for corporate net-zero strategies, mobilizing capital to address emissions across global supply chains.
