Amazon To Invest $3 Million In Nature-Based Projects In India

The company has allocated a $15 million fund for nature-based projects in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region and the first investment from the fund will be in India. 

E-commerce firm Amazon stated on Monday that it will invest $3 million initially in nature-based projects in India. The company stated that the investment is part of it’s $15 million fund that it has allocated for nature-based projects in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region and the first investment from the fund will be in India. 

Amazon will be collaborating with the Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS) for the project. The company informed via a statement that it will try to provide support to communities and conservation efforts in the Western Ghats, reported PTI. The Western Ghats comprise about 30 per cent of India’s total wildlife species, including the largest population of wild Asiatic elephants and tigers worldwide. 

The company will provide $1 million to facilitate CWS in establishing the Wild Carbon program. This program will provide support to 10,000 farmers in growing and maintaining one million fruit-bearing, timber, and medicinal trees. 

Amazon’s Global VP for Sustainability, Kara Hurst, said, “The Asia-Pacific region is home to vast forests and rich coastal environments, but it is also highly vulnerable to climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation. To protect the region from the impacts of climate change and preserve biodiversity, we will need both large-scale and local action – and we are committed to investing in both.”

The total fund allocation for the APAC region comes from Amazon’s $100 million Right Now Climate Fund, created by the company in 2019. This fund aims to provide support for nature conservation and restoration projects to boost climate resilience and biodiversity, and give social and environmental benefits to communities at the same time. 

Commenting on the partnership, CWS Executive Director, Krithi Karanth, said, “Amazon's support enables us to plan and build a program that is self-sustaining in the long term. The farmers will receive upfront support to select tree types that serve both their livelihoods and the wildlife, whilst also receiving technical assistance, agroforestry training, and support for replanting failed saplings.”

The Climate Pledge, co-founded by Amazon, was formed in 2019 with an aim to reach net-zero carbon by 2040. This goal is more ambitious than the Paris Agreement. Currently, the Pledge has more than 400 signatories spread across 55 industries and 38 nations. Nine Indian companies are also a part of the Pledge, including, BluPine Energy, CSM Technologies India, HCL, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, and many more. 

Last year, Amazon initiated six utility-scale projects in India, and the e-commerce giant seems to be on path to be able to power it’s global operations to 100 per cent capacity with renewable energy by 2025. These projects include three solar farms situated in Rajasthan and three wind-solar hybrid projects in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.