Amazon CSO Concedes No Plan for 2040 Net-Zero Target as Gas Plant Plans Raise Emissions Concerns

Amazon Chief Sustainability Officer Kara Hurst said on September 23, 2026 that the company does not yet know how it will reach its net-zero carbon emissions goal by 2040, an admission that underscores the scale of the challenge facing the world's largest companies. "We are still striving towards that target," Hurst said at an Axios event, adding she would not claim Amazon knows all the ways it will get there. The company reported $717 billion in revenue last year, up 12%, and says it remains one of the world's largest corporate purchasers of clean energy, with 42 gigawatts in its portfolio. Hurst told TechCrunch the commitment is unchanged and that Amazon holds itself accountable to The Climate Pledge. Yet carbon intensity rose last year versus 2024, and an investigation earlier this year revealed plans for a 7.65-gigawatt natural gas plant powering an AI data center campus, with 35 turbines potentially releasing up to 33 million tons of CO2 annually.