Sustainability isn’t just important at Zoox: it’s a core part of why we’re here. Even our name points to this. ‘Zoox’ comes from ‘zooxanthellae’: tiny, algae-like organisms, powered by the sun, that support the biodiversity of coral reef ecosystems. It’s a great metaphor for the relationship we see Zoox having with cities, people, and our environment. This Earth Day, we want to explain the journey we’re taking to support a gradual shift from today’s reliance on private car ownership to a cleaner transportation system of shared, all-electric, ride-hailing vehicles. Gas-powered private cars don’t make sense for our environment—or our future. Consider a few eye-opening facts: A quarter of US air pollution is caused by transportation (Source: EPA, 2018) Globally, transportation accounts for a quarter of CO2 emissions. (Source: BBC, 2020) We only use our cars 4% of the time, leaving them to depreciate on driveways for the other 96% (Source: Fortune, 2016) And while switching to hybrid or all-electric vehicles can help cut emissions, it doesn’t solve all of these problems. As each Zoox vehicle is all-electric, it produces less emissions than gas-powered vehicles. But by starting from the ground up, we wanted to go further. We wanted to create a service that would completely change the mobility landscape. Our all-electric vehicle is designed to be shared. When you’re not riding in it, someone else is. We’ll also own and operate our fleet of vehicles. Sustainability is built into our business model. But that doesn’t get us off the hook for making sure we operate day-to-day in a sustainable way too. As part of Amazon’s Climate Pledge, we’ve committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2040. In pursuit of Climate Pledge commitments, we’ve conducted our first annual GHG inventory, and in 2021, we reduced our carbon footprint associated with global electricity usage to zero. These initiatives are helping us to reach our net zero goal 10 years ahead of the Paris Climate Agreement deadline.