Amazon reported strong second-quarter results for 2025, exceeding Wall Street expectations on both revenue and earnings. However, a lighter-than-expected guidance for the upcoming quarter and lukewarm growth in its cloud business triggered a sharp stock decline.
Investors, while impressed with the current numbers, are showing concern over the company’s forward momentum, especially in light of increasing competition in the AI-driven cloud space. On the other hand, if we take a peek into its sustainability goals, the retail giants’ emissions are still challenging.
Let’s study the revenue growth and the net-zero plans in the content below:
Despite this strong showing. The market now values the company at approximately $2.44 trillion.
AWS Struggles to Keep Pace in AI Race
Amazon Web Services (AWS), long the crown jewel of Amazon’s business, grew 17% to $30 billion in revenue. While that’s still solid, it fell just short of expectations ($30.78 billion) and didn’t match the high momentum shown by Microsoft’s Azure and Google Cloud Platform.
AMZN Stock Slides but Analysts Still See Upside
Reuters reported that investors are holding Amazon to a higher standard, especially as Microsoft and Google have both shown clear AI-driven revenue jumps in their cloud platforms. While Amazon is also investing heavily in AI, the returns haven’t yet wowed investors.
So far in 2025, Amazon’s stock had gained around 7% leading up to the earnings announcement. But after the company issued weaker-than-expected guidance, some investors pulled back, causing the stock to dip in after-hours trading.
Even so, market sentiment remains mostly positive. Analysts are still confident in the company’s long-term growth and expect the AMZN stock to recover soon. Many have set short-term price targets between $234 and $238 by the end of August 2025.
Meanwhile, full-year 2025 consensus estimates project earnings per share (EPS) of around $6.29. This signals faith in the company’s fundamentals despite short-term uncertainty.
Future Guidance Adds to Market Jitters
Amazon’s Q3 2025 guidance suggests net sales between $174 billion and $179.5 billion, a projected 10% to 13% increase over Q3 2024. The company also forecasts operating income of $15.5 billion to $20.5 billion, compared with $17.4 billion a year earlier.
Though these are healthy figures, they indicate slowing growth and rising spending. Capital expenditure for 2025 is now expected to exceed $118 billion—well above rivals—fueling concerns over shrinking margins.
Amazon’s Emissions Still a Big Challenge
Amazon says it’s working to cut its carbon footprint. The company has reduced its Scope 1 and 2 emissions slightly by utilizing more renewable energy and improving the efficiency of its buildings. These emissions come from its operations and the electricity it buys.
But Scope 3 emissions—which come from suppliers, product shipping, and customer use—are still going up. These emissions make up over 75% of the company’s total carbon output. As the company builds additional data centers and expands its cloud and AI services, these indirect emissions may increase further.
Amazon has promised to reach net-zero carbon by 2040. Still, some experts say the company needs to share more details about these indirect emissions and do more to cut them across its supply chain.
Electrifying Delivery Fleet
Amazon has aggressively ramped up its electric delivery vehicles (EVs).
- As of mid-2025, the company has delivered 1.5 billion packages using over 31,400 EVs.
- It also built the largest private charging network in the U.S. with 11,770 chargers across 50 delivery stations.
- In Europe, it is adding over 200 Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 electric trucks, expected to carry around 338 million packages annually.
Renewable Energy Milestone Reached Early
Amazon pledged to power all its operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025, but achieved this target two years early in 2023. Today, it matches 100% of its global electricity usage with renewables, primarily through wind and solar projects.
READ MORE:
Cleaner Fuels and Smarter Shipping
In 2024, the company scaled up its use of cleaner fuels. It used 4.7 million gallons of renewable diesel, compared to just 286,300 gallons the year before. It also bought 3.7 million gallons of blended sustainable aviation fuel to cut emissions from air transport.
It also improved delivery routes. By offering customers smarter shipping options, it saved over 452 million delivery trips and reduced the use of more than 494 million boxes. These changes helped avoid an estimated 335,000 metric tons of carbon emissions in 2024 alone.
Making Packaging and Logistics Greener
Amazon is cutting emissions by bringing fulfillment centers closer to customers, reducing delivery distances and fuel use. It uses more rail transport instead of trucks to lower emissions.
In cities, it relies on on-foot deliveries and electric cargo bikes for short trips as well. This cuts pollution and eases traffic. The company also invests in lighter, recyclable packaging, aiming to have half of its shipments be net-zero carbon by 2030.
Expanding Carbon Removal Projects
While Amazon is cutting emissions through renewable energy and electrification, it’s also backing large-scale carbon removal efforts. These initiatives are vital for tackling the emissions that cannot be completely avoided.
It is investing heavily in nature-based solutions like reforestation, wetland restoration, and soil carbon capture. The company partners with trusted environmental organizations and developers to ensure these projects meet strict environmental and scientific standards.
Additionally, Amazon also funds early-stage technologies focused on direct air capture (DAC) and ocean-based carbon removal. These advanced methods pull CO₂ directly from the air or water and lock it away permanently. The company views these long-term technologies as crucial to scaling carbon removal in the decades ahead.
By building out a global portfolio of carbon removal projects, Amazon is not only addressing its own footprint but also helping grow the carbon market and drive down the cost of climate solutions.
Amazon’s Game-Changing Carbon Credit Platform
Amazon launched a carbon credit platform through its Sustainability Exchange to help suppliers and partners reach their net-zero goals. This new service gives qualified companies access to high-quality carbon credits. These credits come from real projects that either remove CO₂ from the air or prevent its release.
Unlike many carbon marketplaces, Amazon’s platform is selective. It only allows companies that set net-zero targets, measure and report emissions, and commit to cutting carbon in line with climate science.
Driving Real Change Beyond Offsetting
This platform goes beyond simple offsetting. It aims to enable real decarbonization across Amazon’s entire value chain. By offering vetted credits to customers, suppliers, and Climate Pledge members, Amazon unlocks new private funding for effective climate projects.
Over time, this platform could make Amazon a leader in corporate carbon management—not just logistics or cloud services. Plus, it encourages collaboration by providing educational tools, playbooks, and a space for companies to share best practices. This broad approach could speed up the decarbonization of many industries.
As Amazon navigates the twin challenges of AI-driven cloud competition and rising operating costs, its environmental leadership and aggressive long-term planning offer strong fundamentals for future growth.
