Supply chain emissions account for more than half of global greenhouse gas emissions and can represent the majority of a company's total carbon footprint.
In an industry first, leading corporate energy customers came together to launch the Clean Energy Procurement Academy to equip companies with the technical readiness to explore and adopt clean energy, an essential factor in global decarbonization.
Apple’s vice president of environment and supply chain innovation, Sarah Chandler, said to address the climate crisis, companies need to act quickly to expand access to clean energy around the world.
“As we make progress to ensure every Apple product is carbon neutral by 2030, we will continue to work closely with our global suppliers to support their transition to renewable energy,” she said.
“We’re proud to collaborate with CEBA and others to expand those efforts beyond our supply chain and across industries.”
Apple and Nike initiated the project through the Clean Energy Buyers Institute (CEBI) and were joined by Amazon, Meta, PepsiCo, and REI Co-op as founding organizations to plan and execute the Clean Energy Procurement Academy.
“We continue to leverage our scale to drive impact and support suppliers in mitigating their climate risk,” Noel Kinder, chief sustainability officer at Nike explained.
“The Clean Energy Procurement Academy is key to breaking down barriers to clean energy adoption, while also helping us demonstrate demand and advocate for clean energy solutions in essential regions. Collaborating cross-industry helps us tackle systemic challenges together.”
Amazon’s vice president of worldwide sustainability, Kara Hurst, said accelerating the transition to clean energy is crucial to avoiding the most severe impacts of climate change and meeting Amazon’s net zero carbon commitment.
“This is why Amazon has been the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy for the last three consecutive years,” Hurst said.
“We know that actions to address climate change will be more impactful when we join together with others and all share what we’ve learned.
“We are excited to collaborate with the Clean Energy Procurement Academy to empower Amazon suppliers and other businesses to decarbonize their energy operations alongside us.”
Designed to speed up the integration of clean energy into global supply chains, the Academy will blend in-person and online training, along with comprehensive educational resources to:
- Boost supply chain companies’ capacity to invest in renewable energy through education and data accessibility.
- Foster synergy among different industries tackling shared challenges in supply chain climate action.
- Encourage supply chain companies to escalate their renewable energy goals and commitments.
- Establish new renewable energy buying communities in pivotal manufacturing regions.
Apple, Amazon, Meta, Nike, PepsiCo, and REI launched The Clean Energy Procurement Academy to build capacity of select supply chain partners in energy markets that contribute material volumes of greenhouse gas emissions.
The founding organizations pooled their expertise and internal training resources to design a shared training curriculum and delivery processes that enable trainees to rapidly mature as clean energy customers.
The Clean Energy Buyers Institute and its global portfolio is funded by Google.org.