Amazon unveils “Sustainability Solutions Hub” to provide customized environmental data to packagers

18 Sep 2023 --- Amazon is launching “The Sustainability Solutions Hub,” a resource designed to help producers improve the environmental footprint of their products and packaging. 

The hub provides information sellers need to start with the company’s programs, such as Climate Pledge Friendly, Amazon Renewed and Ships in Product Packaging. The hub will be available to all sellers in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and US by the end of October this year. 

A new dashboard will be available through which sellers can receive personalized data and information to track progress with Amazon’s sustainability programs, such as the percentage of products with Climate Pledge Friendly badging. This dashboard will also identify opportunities for sellers to take advantage of the programs offered. 

Sellers will also find a new sustainability category in the Service Provider Network that features a carefully curated set of service providers to help them with packaging design, testing, product design and certification. 

The hub will provide sellers with training programs about Climate Pledge Friendly certifications. Sellers can use the Certification Recommendation Tool for a shortlist of relevant certifications to explore, in addition to receiving direct access to a curated set of third-party service providers to help sellers get started with certification. 

The Sustainability Solutions Hub will make it easier for companies to target emissions reductions.Ships in Product Packaging program 
Since 2015, Amazon says its packaging programs have avoided more than 2 million tons of packaging materials, the equivalent weight of more than 230 Space Needles.

“A big part of this effort is our Ships in Product Packaging program, formerly known as Ship in Own Container,” claims the company. 

“This program allows us to work with sellers to help redesign their packaging to enable their products to ship in their own branded product packaging without any Amazon-added delivery packaging. In 2024, the program will be available to all sellers who use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).” 

Seller benefits include increased connection with customers, who see seller branding upon delivery and that sellers are providing them with an easy-to-open packaging experience that creates less waste. 

Cost reduction is another benefit touted by Amazon. Products certified to ship in their own packaging can be eligible for lower FBA fulfillment fees. 

Additionally, sellers may be able to save on the cost of the packaging itself. Retail packaging tends to be oversized and glossy to capture customer attention, asserts Amazon. Designing packaging for e-commerce, where the customer can see images of the product online, allows for simpler and often lower-cost packaging. 

By using increasingly compact packaging, sellers can also potentially reduce transportation costs and carbon emissions by using less packaging material and taking up less space on trucks, which means fewer trips. 

Once the Ships in Product Packaging program is launched for all FBA sellers, the dashboard in the Sustainability Solutions Hub will include Ships in Product Packaging information, sharing data such as estimated package weight avoided for certified products and the packaging weight avoidance opportunity for products not yet certified. 

Climate Pledge Friendly 
The Climate Pledge Friendly program by Amazon was launched in 2020 to help customers discover more sustainable products at scale and reward sellers for developing innovative products. 

Once in the program, products go into the company’s Climate Pledge Friendly storefront and the Climate Pledge Friendly badge. In order to qualify, a product needs to have at least one of the qualifying certifications. Amazon partners with more than 50 credible and recognized sustainability certifiers, including Forest Stewardship Council, FairTrade, Environmental Working Group and Rainforest Alliance. 

These certifications allow customers to trust that the Climate Pledge Friendly badge means they’re purchasing a more sustainable product, which is why the badge is discoverable at every stage of the customer shopping journey, including search, product detail pages, advertising, product recommendations and via Amazon Business. 

More than 60 million customers have switched to more sustainable product options in the program and sellers have found that adding the badge to a product increases page views by an average of 10%. 

Edited by Louis Gore-Langton