By launching its new “Climate Pledge Friendly” function, Amazon Belgium is offering consumers the opportunity to buy sustainably. But certainly not less. Meeting with Eva Faict, country manager of the e-commerce giant.
Since this 1is October, amazon.com.be users can use a new tool to identify “sustainable” labeled products by 41 recognized certification bodies: the “Climate Pledge Friendly” label, whose name echoes its strategy to achieve carbon neutrality in 2040. Depending on the type of product sought, the consumer can on the one hand filter results meeting this sustainability criterion, and on the other hand discover the details of any sub-labels obtainedvia a small drop-down menu under the description of the property concerned. Active for several years already in other countries, notably on amazon.fr, this information tool on sustainability turns out to be rather discreet when you browse the main interface of the platform. However, it has the merit of being based on 41 recognized certification bodies by the European Commission. Fair trade, organic standards, recycled materials, reduction of the carbon footprint, low environmental impact… The initiative covers several themes, without however applying it to all product categories.
More fundamentally, this label does not in no way calls into question the Amazon modelbased on consumerism facilitated by it. “Amazon is the most consumer-centric company in the world,” says Eva Faict, head of Amazon Belgium, at the start of a 30-minute interview with Le Vif, from her discreet offices in the center of Brussels, a few steps from rue de la Loi.
Why did you launch this “Climate Pledge Friendly” label?
According to a survey we conducted, seven out of ten Belgian consumers would prefer buy more respectful products climate and environment, but 56% of them don’t know how to find them. We therefore wanted to set up a label allowing them to more easily identify this type of product. To begin with, 70,000 products sold on Amazon Belgium (Editor’s note: out of the 400 million offered there) will be part of this program. Furthermore, our philosophy is based on the principle that a big scale comes with big responsibilitiesincluding climate and environmental protection. We committed to supplying all of our offices, command and data centers with renewable energy by 2030. We have achieved this goal last year. We also finance nature protection with, for example, a recent contribution of 1.1 million euros to establish the Brabant Forests National Park. And regarding the logistics of the “last mile” (Editor’s note: the final stage of the distribution of a package, between the last warehouse and the final consumer)we are investing heavily in electrification of delivery vehicles.
On this subject, the faster a delivery process, the more it tends to emit more greenhouse gas emissions, several scientific studies show. Wouldn’t it be nice if Amazon customers could choose a less expeditious mode of transportation if they are not in a hurry?
I have good news on this subject. We are actively working to launch our “Amazon Day” program in Belgium. Already operational in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, it allows all ordered products to be delivered to a specific day of the week. However, according to the data available to us, it is not not always true that faster delivery is necessarily more harmful to the planet.
On the one hand, Amazon advocates sustainability and greens its operations. But on the other hand, its model pushes users to consume, which neutralizes the benefits of actions for the climate or the environment. Isn’t that contradictory?
There are certainly a lot of contradictions in my work. But we we work first and foremost for consumers. Our priority is that they can regain more resources and time to devote to what matters to them, thanks to a wide range of affordable products. Some buy often but little, others less often but more. I’m confident that if users don’t like receiving notifications, they will let us know. More broadly, we take our responsibilities at the level of production chains and logistics that we create.
“We want to meet the needs of all consumers, including those who cannot afford to put sustainability at the top of their criteria.”
Eva Faict
Country manager at Amazon Belgium
Given its weight in the market, Amazon could become much more proactive. For example by prohibiting, on its platforms, the sale of products from less climate-friendly manufacturers, the price of which often penalizes more virtuous players.
We want to meet the needs of all consumers, including those who cannot afford to put sustainability at the top of their list and who, in the short term, simply want to ensure their children have a gift for St. Nicholas. There formula that we launched 25-30 years ago already will therefore remain the same: having a lot of choice. But one of our points of attention is indeed to go in the direction of what the legislation provides in terms of sustainability from the European Commission, with whom we work a lot.
In other countries, Amazon already has a platform dedicated to second-hand products. Is this planned in Belgium?
We cannot say more at this stage, but this is actually planned. Generally speaking, we see that expressed per capita, the market share of second-hand products is much greater in Belgium than in France. We therefore know that consumers are demanding. This also fits with our philosophy of offering good products at a great price.
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