Amazon’s fulfilment centre in Tilbury has today unveiled the largest solar roof top installation of any Amazon site in Europe.

The building has 2 million sq. ft. of operating space – equivalent to 28 football pitches – and has been fitted with more than 11,500 module solar panels which generate the equivalent amount of electricity required to power 700 homes for one year.

Speaking at the fulfilment centre in Tilbury, Brittany Stanton, Senior Energy Programme Manager, said: “At Amazon, we are putting our scale and our inventive culture to work on sustainability and protecting the environment. We are proud of the fact that Amazon has a goal to power our global infrastructure using 100% renewable energy, and this solar panel installation is just one of the ways we are working to make our fulfilment centre network sustainable.”

Solar panel projects such as these help Amazon drive towards its goal to be powered by 100% renewable energy by 2025 as part of The Climate Pledge – a commitment to be net zero carbon across our businesses by 2040.

Brittany added: “To achieve 100 per cent renewable energy by 2025 we will invest in large on-site solar installations like this one in Tilbury which will help power our fulfilment centres directly, and in large off-site renewable energy, wind and solar projects where the power goes into our local utility grids.”

"We’re investing in sustainability and renewable energy projects of this kind because it’s good for the environment, good for our communities, and good for business. That’s why we co-founded The Climate Pledge in 2019, outlining our commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040 – ten years in advance of the Paris Climate Agreement."

Amazon’s sustainability projects

Globally, Amazon has more than 90 renewable energy projects including 31 utility-scale wind and solar renewable energy projects and more than 60 solar rooftops on fulfilment centres and sorting centres around the world.

In July, Amazon announced its partnership with We Mean Business coalition, establishing the largest effort to mobilise the private sector to reach net zero carbon by 2040, to encourage companies to adopt more ambitious carbon emission reduction goals.

Last month, Amazon announced it is adding more than 1,800 electric vehicles from Mercedes-Benz Vans to its delivery fleet in Europe this year. More than 500 of the vans will be operating in the UK by the end of 2020. These electric vehicles will be powered with clean energy. Mercedes-Benz also announced it has joined The Climate Pledge.