Amazon has announced a €20 million allocation for nature-based projects to improve environmental conditions in the communities where it operates across Europe, as part of its Right Now Climate Fund. As the first recipient, we’ll be supporting the work of the Parco Italia urban forestry program in Italy. Parco Italia aims to plant 22 million trees – one tree per city resident – across 14 metropolitan areas in Italy, as part of a reforestation and research program supported by the Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology, the Fondazione AlberiItalia and Stefano Boeri Architetti. The Parco Italia program will receive €2 million, which will support strategic planning of the program and initial tree planting. The project will also help cities to become more climate-change resilient, increasing urban biodiversity, improving air quality, and promoting urban cooling.
Amazon’s commitment to building a sustainable business for our employees, customers and communities is at the heart of this investment, helping to drive positive change across our planet, including the locations we operate in. Amazon has 1,400 employees in Milan, spread across corporate offices, AWS and logistics sites, and millions of customers across Italy. This announcement comes after Amazon’s commitment to fund an urban greening program to reduce climate change risks and increase species biodiversity in German cities.
The investment comes from Amazon’s global Right Now Climate Fund, set up in 2019 to support nature conservation and restoration initiatives worldwide. The €20 million allocation for Europe will fund vital projects across the region supporting carbon mitigation and biodiversity improvements, as well as providing social benefits such as job creation and access to nature. These projects supplement the efforts and investments Amazon is making to decarbonize its own business operations, as we look to fund projects that offer robust and science-based benefits that protect our environment and enhance the wellbeing of our communities.
On the support this funding can provide our communities, Zak Watts, Amazon’s Director of Sustainability in Europe said “As co-founders of The Climate Pledge—a commitment to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement 10 years early—we’re excited to launch this commitment to funding in Europe. Our goal with nature-based investments like the Parco Italia program is to create positive environmental and social impact, closer to our customers and communities in Europe. In the fight to combat climate change and preserve biodiversity, we will need both large-scale and local action – and we’re committing to investing in both.”
Stefano Boeri, Founder of Stefano Boeri Architetti and President of Forestami Scientific Committee said “We need trees to reduce heat, improve our environment, air and quality of life. Natural protected areas and forests must be linked to greener cities, in a global network of biodiversity. Trees are the starting point of the sustainable cities of the future. The challenge of urban forestry lies in proposing innovative and sustainable urban ecosystems in which living nature and city intertwine and act as a single organism. I have been working on reforestation and urban greening projects for several years now, and it is great to launch Parco Italia, which is the most ambitious project I have worked on, with a partner like Amazon, which has accepted the challenge to fight climate change, improve quality of life, and make Italian cities greener.”
To learn more about Amazon’s commitment to sustainability and funds for further projects in Europe, visit sustainability.aboutamazon.com
