Q&A: Amazon UK country manager John Boumphrey discusses the responsibility of sustainability as a global giant

Amazon has just completed a 10-week programme helping eight European start-ups get mentored, connect with experts and develop their sustainable businesses.

The programme concluded in a demo day that took place at the Barbican Centre in London last week, with the eight businesses pitching their plans to investors.

Spearheading the initiative is Boumphrey, who sat down with us to discuss the benefits of the scheme and what Amazon is doing within the wider business to champion sustainability.

How do you balance being a multibillion-dollar company while vying to be sustainable?

“When we came up with the climate pledge in 2019 we were shipping 10 billion physical packages around the world. And so as a business with a really physical footprint, this is a really big challenge but we’re working on it every day. You have to think about every single facet of your business such as the energy usage, onshore and offshore wind farms, and transportation. 

“Globally, we’ve now got more than 10,000 electric delivery vehicles with more than 1,000 in the UK. We’re working closely with the government and specific businesses to get the charging infrastructure piece right. We launched a tool called CHALET (Charging Location for Electric Trucks), which is an open-source technology for other companies to have a look at how they can improve or build their own charging infrastructure across the UK.

“We’ve also got four, what we call, micro-mobility hubs, including a couple in London, one in Manchester and one in Glasgow where we are doing deliveries to customers on electric cargo bikes or by walking. 

What does Amazon do for the startups joining the sustainability accelerator? 

“So this is the third year that we’re running the accelerator, and it’s a very competitive process with around 1,000 applicants for eight slots. The idea is to create this sort of mini community of sustainability focused start-ups. You bring them in, you give them access to particular experts, you get them specific training around how to pitch their business, how to engage with investors, and you take them around some of the big European cities and introduce them to potential investors.”

What was the inspiration behind the sustainability accelerator three years ago? 

“We’ve always been very focused on sustainability. We’ve got this commitment to be net zero carbon by 2040 and as a business, we’re thinking about lots of ways in which we can be more sustainable while focussing on helping small businesses sell.

“We’ve got over 100,000 small businesses on Amazon and we thought ‘how can we help small businesses who are focused on sustainability?’ We started by speaking to the investor community about sustainability focused businesses and they said, ‘we’re really keen on them, but from our experiences, these businesses need some specific help that they’re not getting today’.

“There was a gap for a company like Amazon to provide these businesses with a combination of specialist introductions, access to investors, building skills and really helping them go on to be successful businesses. So listening to the investor community helped create the accelerator.”

Does customer feedback drive sustainability?

“Absolutely. Every day, all the time. Customers give us feedback on our packaging and one of the reasons that we moved to change this was based on what customers were telling us. 

“One of the most visible ways that Amazon enters the home of our customers is via the packaging so if it’s too big or if it comes with lots of padding, we know that a lot of our customers don’t like that. We’re working really hard to make sure we’ve always got the right size package and that we’ve got the recyclable inner material that makes sure the customer gets their package safely, but in a way that’s also really environmentally friendly as well.

“We think about the products and how to spotlight products that are more sustainable. We’ve reduced our packaging, completely got rid of our plastic air pillows, and we’re thinking hard about what we’re doing every single day.”