Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet's Dirty Supply Chains Undercut Climate Promises From HQ
Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc. have pledged to run their own operations on 100% clean power. But their suppliers — the lesser known companies that make the key components of hit products like the Kindle, the Xbox or Pixel mobiles — remain deeply reliant on fossil fuels. Twelve of the 14 top suppliers get on average 5.4% of their energy from renewable sources or don't disclose, data from a Greenpeace report released Friday showed.
Their major clients, including HP Inc., Dell Technologies Inc., Lenovo Group, Sony Group Corp., LG Electronics Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. share the blame, the organization said: Of 10 consumer electronics brands, only one — Apple Inc. — has designed an emissions strategy requiring its suppliers to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2030.
The big consumer electronics brands “have not provided sufficient incentives or support for their suppliers to decarbonize,” Greenpeace's researchers concluded. They “have failed to set meaningful renewable energy targets where it really counts — in their supply chains.”
Google, Sony and Dell declined to comment, while representatives from Microsoft, HP, Lenovo and LG didn't respond to Bloomberg's emailed requests for comment. Amazon said it plans to power its operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025 and to zero out its carbon emissions by 2040. Samsung said it was committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
At the heart of their supply chains are Asian chip behemoths like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and SK Hynix Inc. that can guzzle as much power as entire countries to produce the advanced logic and memory chips that are now used in nearly everything. While their products are indispensable, they use fossil
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