AMAZON.COM, INC. | Report on plastic pollution at AMAZON.COM, INC.

Status
23.28% votes in favour
AGM date
Previous AGM date
Proposal number
22
Resolution details
Company ticker
AMZN
Lead filer
As You Sow
Resolution ask
Report on or disclose
ESG theme
  • Environment
ESG sub-theme
  • Waste and pollution
Type of vote
Shareholder proposal
Filer type
Shareholder
Company sector
Consumer Discretionary
Company HQ country
United States
Resolved clause
Shareholders request the Amazon Board issue a report, at reasonable expense and excluding proprietary information, describing how the Company could reduce its plastics use in alignment with the one-third reduction findings of the Pew Report, or other authoritative sources, to significantly reduce ocean plastic pollution.
Whereas clause
The growing plastic pollution crisis poses increasing risks to our Company. Corporations could face an annual financial risk of approximately $100 billion should governments require them to cover the waste management costs of the packaging they produce, a policy that is increasingly being enacted around the globe. The authoritative study, Breaking the Plastic Wave (2020), by Pew Charitable Trusts (“Pew Report”), concluded that if all current industry and government commitments were met, ocean plastic deposition would be reduced by only 7%. Without immediate and sustained new commitments throughout the plastics value chain, annual flows of plastics into oceans could nearly triple by 2040. The Pew Report also finds that improved recycling must be coupled with reductions in use, materials redesign, and substitution. It concludes that plastic demand should be reduced by least one-third to cut ocean plastic pollution 80% by 2040, and that reducing plastic production is the most attractive solution from environmental, economic, and social perspectives. Countries and other major brands have committed to significant cuts in the use of virgin and single-use plastics. Amazon does not disclose how much plastic packaging it uses but is believed to be one of the largest corporate users of flexible plastic packaging which cannot be effectively recycled. A recent report by Oceana estimates that Amazon generated 599 million pounds of plastic packaging waste in 2020 and up to 23.5 million pounds of this waste entered the world’s marine ecosystems. Flexible packaging represents 59% of all plastic production but an outsized 80% of plastic leaking into oceans. Amazon has no goal to make all its packaging recyclable.
Amazon is falling behind its peers. Unilever, with the most significant corporate action to date, agreed to cut virgin plastic packaging by half by 2025, eliminating 100,000 tons.[5] At least seventeen other public consumer goods companies including competitors Walmart and Target have virgin plastic reduction goals.[6] IKEA pledged to eliminate all plastic packaging by 2028.
Reducing Amazon’s plastic packaging and making all its packaging recyclable are necessary steps to combat the plastic pollution crisis. Our Company is overdue on taking action on this important issue.
Supporting statement
The report should, at Board discretion:
• Quantify the weight of total plastic packaging used by the Company;
• Evaluate the benefits of dramatically reducing the amount of plastics used in our Company’s packaging;
• Assess the reputational, financial, and operational risks associated with continuing to use substantial plastic packaging, while plastic pollution grows;
• Describe any planned reduction strategies or goals, materials redesign, transition to reusables, substitution, or reductions in our Company’s use of plastic packaging.

How other organisations have declared their voting intentions

Organisation name Declared voting intentions Rationale
Dana Investment Advisors (Delisted) For
EFG Asset Management For A vote FOR this proposal is warranted, as shareholders would benefit from additional information on how the
company is managing risks related to the creation of plastic waste.
Anima Sgr For As while the company discusses the impact in terms of plastic waste reduction, it does not provide an overall baseline amount of plastic used throughout its supply chain. Although the company disputes Oceana's claims regarding its plastic use, it does not provide competing data that allows investors to assess its progress. Several of the company's peers have announced goals specifically around single-use plastic reduction.
Concern over the environmental damage caused by plastics is rising and regulations are likely to go into force in a number of jurisdictions that would limit the amount of single-use plastic packaging that can be used. Such additional disclosure as is being requested by the proponent would help shareholders gauge whether the company is appropriately managing risks related to the creation of plastic waste.
VidaCaixa For
Rothschild & co Asset Management For
Irish Life Investment Managers For
CANDRIAM For Amazon does not disclose how much plastic packaging it uses but is believed to be one of the largest corporate users of flexible plastic packaging which cannot be effectively recycled. A recent report by Oceana estimates that Amazon generated 599 million pounds of plastic packaging waste in 2020 and up to 23.5 million pounds of this waste entered the world’s marine ecosystems. Flexible packaging represents 59% of all plastic production but an outsized 80% of plastic leaking into oceans. Amazon has no goal to make all its packaging recyclable.
Amazon is falling behind its peers. Unilever, with the most significant corporate action to date, agreed to cut virgin plastic packaging by half by 2025, eliminating 100,000 tons. At least seventeen other public consumer goods companies including competitors Walmart and Target have virgin plastic reduction goals. IKEA pledged to eliminate all plastic packaging by 2028.
Reducing Amazon’s plastic packaging and making all its packaging recyclable are necessary steps to combat the plastic pollution crisis, and shareholders would benefit from additional information on how the company is managing risks related to the creation of plastic waste.
Kutxabank Gestion SGIIC SAU. Against

DISCLAIMER: By including a shareholder resolution or management proposal in this database, neither the PRI nor the sponsor of the resolution or proposal is seeking authority to act as proxy for any shareholder; shareholders should vote their proxies in accordance with their own policies and requirements.

Any voting recommendations set forth in the descriptions of the resolutions and management proposals included in this database are made by the sponsors of those resolutions and proposals, and do not represent the views of the PRI.

Information on the shareholder resolutions, management proposals and votes in this database have been obtained from sources that are believed to be reliable, but the PRI does not represent that it is accurate, complete, or up-to-date, including information relating to resolutions and management proposals, other signatories’ vote pre-declarations (including voting rationales), or the current status of a resolution or proposal. You should consult companies’ proxy statements for complete information on all matters to be voted on at a meeting.