Susan Beverly is a self-proclaimed Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) enthusiast. She leads the teams responsible for publishing Amazon’s annual sustainability report and building relationships to drive climate action across the globe. She also manages teams dedicated to helping other employees learn how they can contribute to Amazon’s sustainability goals.

“I’m an ESG nerd,” Beverly says. “Reporting is near and dear to my heart because it’s an opportunity to be transparent. In my role, I get to go deep on reporting, disclosures, and issues management, while also developing sustainability-focused partnerships and programs that help fuel our success.”

The Climate Pledge, a commitment to reach net-zero carbon by 2040, is a critical part of Amazon’s vision to have a positive impact on the world through sustainability initiatives. It’s why Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge in 2019 and became its first signatory. For Beverly, the key to unlocking such an ambitious goal is to have a plan, then execute it through measurement and reporting.

We asked Beverly about how the annual sustainability report comes together, the ways in which ESG influences business decisions at Amazon, and what advice she has for other organizations on their decarbonization journey.

Interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

“Step one is having a plan. You need to have a strategy, whether it’s tied to a distinct issue like decarbonization or broader ESG goals. From there, you can build a roadmap that outlines how you’ll meet your goals. Some parts will be well-established, while others will be aspirational.

Underpinning this work is the data. A strategy can fall flat without data. You need to be able to measure your progress and say, ‘We’re not excelling the way we thought we were in this area’ or ‘We’re going to meet our goal ahead of schedule.’ There’s a responsibility to communicate how you’re doing. If you have a strategy and you’ve made a public commitment, you have a duty to disclose your progress to stakeholders; it’s an expectation.

The way I look at reporting is this: As a company, we've put a stake in the ground and said we will be net-zero carbon by 2040. There are hundreds of people across Amazon who work hard every day to deliver on that promise, from delivering millions of packages with our electric delivery vans to matching 100% of the electricity consumed by our global operations with renewable energy sources. Our goal is to bring at least 100,000 electric delivery vans to the road by 2030, from Rivian and other manufacturers, and with a $2 billion investment in The Climate Pledge Fund, we can support companies that are innovating climate technology. It's our job to figure out how to be transparent about the work that's being done, and to make sure we share our performance in a thoughtful way for investors and other stakeholders.”

“When I joined Amazon in 2021, I asked the team: What is our ‘why’? Why are we reporting and what do we want to get out of it? Is our reporting customer obsessed? We began to inspect our reporting and test the value and results of our investment. That led us to move away from a one-size-fits-all report to a more tailored approach for disclosing our progress. We started creating targeted content and programs that help stakeholders better understand where we are on the journey in a way that meets their needs.

The reporting process takes nearly a year, and it typically spans two calendar years. So, for the 2023 report, we started working with teams across the company in the fall of 2023 to publish in summer 2024. There are more than 500 subject matter experts who contribute to the report, then our team takes that information and turns it into what we put out into the world. Of course, Amazon is a very large company, so there are many people and lots of information to wrangle. At a smaller company, this can take less time and require fewer contributors.

We begin by conducting a deep assessment of the issues that are important to Amazon. These are the topics that drive our business and impact how we operate. That analysis informs the topics and content of the report. Next, we engage with people across the organization to understand their progress tied to those topics. Key to these discussions is the data—the measurable evidence of our performance. All data needs to be substantiated to ensure we are reporting accurately and not putting the company at risk.

After that, we build our narrative. We analyze the priority issues, performance, and data, then decide how to lay out all of the information in an easy-to-read format. We produce multiple drafts over several months and reviews go all the way up to Amazon’s senior leadership team for approval. The team’s guidance inspires us to think bigger and insist on the highest standards when it comes to reporting.”

“Sometimes when we aggregate data, we see things we didn’t anticipate. This happens at every company. When our plans don't go as expected, we have a commitment to evaluate whether we need to adjust our strategy and, if so, communicate changes to stakeholders. On the flip side, reporting also shows you where goals may need to be strengthened. Through the reporting process, you learn what’s working and what’s not. That’s where big ideas, new solutions, and collaboration come into play. If done well, reporting is a form of performance improvement.”

“The hardest part is getting started, so start small if the idea of reporting feels daunting and make sure to build a plan that works for your company. A sustainability report can be so many things—the gold standard is no longer a 200-page document that covers every facet of an organization. It should be tailored to your company and your priority stakeholders. Reporting is also a great mechanism to get to know your business better and build relationships that can fuel your sustainability strategy. Aligning with others on the value that sustainability reporting can bring to your strategic imperatives can be a process, so having patience, determination, and an open mind are key!

I’m proud of our team’s work on the 2023 report, which published last week. We’re continuing on our path from previous years to keep this as a much more strategic disclosure. We use tear sheets that offer a performance summary snapshot at the beginning of each topic section of the report. Our decarbonization infographics help visually walk readers through how we’re performing, simplify our journey, and educate stakeholders on the complexity of this work at Amazon. That creative innovation was the brainchild of Senior Lead, ESG Reporting, Devon Scott, and will continue to be a cornerstone of future reports.

In addition to publishing the report, we engage employees to help celebrate the milestones that we as a company made that are direct result of their hard work. We achieve this through a multifaceted approach: We share informative articles and gamified knowledge tests internally to make learning fun; we also host a town hall discussion to highlight the milestones of the report, the goals for the year ahead, and the important work being done to move sustainability forward across the business. These are examples of how we’re trying to foster connectivity and humanize our work—to simplify the complexity of climate action through content and programs for both our employees and our customers.

For those just starting out, I wouldn't look at Amazon’s latest report and say, ‘My company’s report has to look like that.’ It doesn't! There are so many other organizations we're inspired by, like Best Buy.

I believe that great ideas can come from anywhere. If your company is a signatory of The Climate Pledge, use the tools on Passport. Reach out to my team. There are folks at Amazon who are very passionate about this work and would love to spend an hour or two with you to share ideas and resources. That's the whole point of the Pledge signatory community. We're in this together.”

Is your company new to measurement and reporting? Passport Academy, a free educational resource for signatories of The Climate Pledge, offers a valuable course called Your Practical Guide to Measurement and Reporting. Not a signatory yet? Get started today.