Infosys signs Amazon-backed Climate Pledge to meet Paris Agreement 10 years early
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said Infosys is showing bold leadership by signing up for The Climate Pledge and committing to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement ten years early.
Amazon and Global Optimism on Tuesday announced that tech giant Infosys became the second major signatory to The Climate Pledge, making a commitment to meet the Paris Agreement 10 years early.
The Climate Pledge calls on new signatories to be net zero carbon across their businesses by 2040, a decade ahead of the Paris Accords goal of 2050, the three organisations said in a statement.
Picture Credit: Jeff Bezos on Instagram
Infosys and other companies that sign The Climate Pledge agree to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis, it said.
They will have to implement decarbonisation strategies in line with the Paris Agreement through real business changes and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions, and other carbon emission elimination strategies.
They also need to neutralise any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially-beneficial offsets to achieve net zero annual carbon emissions by 2040.
Commenting on it, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said "Infosys is showing bold leadership by signing up to The Climate Pledge and committing to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement ten years early."
Infosys CEO and MD Salil Parekh was quoted as saying: "At Infosys, we recognised climate change as a serious threat to our planet early on, and realised our responsibility as a corporate institution to mitigate its impact by taking concrete steps."
Infosys was one of the first companies to place an internal price on carbon. It also has a highly successful energy efficiency programme that helped the company reduce its per-capita electricity consumption by 55 percent since 2008.
Christiana Figueres, UN's former climate change chief and founding partner of Global Optimism, said, By committing to achieve net zero emissions by 2040, Infosys is not just making a statement of commitment to the future, it is committing to significant actions and investments that will create jobs, spur innovation, regenerate the natural environment, and help consumers to buy better in the short term.
(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context)
Edited by Megha Reddy
