The day before employees plan to walk out over climate change, Amazon announced a new "Climate Pledge" — which includes buying 100,000 electric vans from Rivian.
Not only could the move help gloss over the company's poor climate change record, it could be very profitable. Amazon invested $440 million in Rivian, which plans to release an electric SUV and pickup truck next year.
The all-electric vans are scheduled to drop off packages by 2021. By 2022, Amazon says 10,000 will be in operation. The full 100,000 are scheduled to hit the road by 2030. Amazon says the vehicles will save 4 million metric tons of carbon per year.
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But switching to electric vans and pledging to only use renewable energy within 10 years doesn't erase the problems that prompted Friday's planned walkout. Amazon still works with oil and gas companies, and its current facilities are lagging when it comes to using clean energy.
