Amazon Supply Chain Standards: Supplier Requirements, Audits and Carbon Reporting

If your business supplies products, services or labour to Amazon, you may be required to meet Amazon's Supply Chain Standards. Amazon also expects suppliers to ensure relevant subcontractors and sub-tier suppliers meet its standards. Working out what this means in day-to-day terms, and how it connects to Amazon's climate commitments, can be difficult to piece together from Amazon's own documentation. This guide sets out what the Standards cover, who has to comply, what suppliers are asked to report, what happens if a business falls short, and how Amazon's Climate Pledge is changing what suppliers of every size are being asked for.

What Are Amazon's Supply Chain Standards?

Amazon's Supply Chain Standards set expectations for suppliers covering labour rights, health and safety, environmental performance, ethical behaviour and supply chain management. They apply to third parties producing products sold through Amazon or providing products or services to Amazon. Suppliers may also be asked to provide audits, documentation and greenhouse gas emissions data. 

Amazon states the Standards are informed by international frameworks, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the Core Conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Suppliers are also expected to hold their own subcontractors, recruitment agents, and labour agents to the same expectations, so the Standards can extend beyond the direct supplier to relevant sub-tier suppliers and subcontractors. 

The Standards are organised into seven sections:

For suppliers used to UK and EU frameworks, this maps onto familiar ground: it shares common roots with schemes such as amfori BSCI and Sedex's SMETA audit, both of which Amazon accepts as evidence of compliance (more on that below).

Who Needs to Comply With Amazon's Supply Chain Standards? 

Amazon's own definition of scope is broad. The Standards apply to "all suppliers of goods and services for Amazon and Amazon's subsidiaries, including providers, vendors, selling partners, contractors, and subcontractors," and, more simply, to "any third party producing a product sold in our stores, or providing a product or service to Amazon."

There is no stated minimum company size or turnover threshold. A single-site manufacturer, a logistics contractor, a marketing agency, or a growing business selling through Amazon's marketplace can all fall within scope, depending on the relationship. Amazon does note that a supplier's size and structure "will be taken into consideration when driving continuous improvement in line with these Standards, to the extent permitted by law," which suggests some flexibility on pace, but not on the underlying expectation to comply.

In practice, this typically includes direct suppliers of Amazon-branded and third-party products, vendors and contractors providing services to Amazon's operations, selling partners and marketplace sellers, and any subcontractors or labour agents used by those businesses. In 2025 Amazon also expanded its audit programme to cover more of its logistics, warehousing, and construction suppliers, not just Amazon-branded product suppliers.

What Are Amazon Supplier Requirements? 

There are two layers here: baseline conduct and documentation across the seven Standards categories above, and a set of specific disclosure obligations, most commonly triggered when Amazon requests them.

Audits

Amazon states: "If requested, Suppliers must submit an Amazon-approved audit of their facilities before providing Amazon with products, labor, or other services." There are two routes: a recent audit from an approved industry association, or an Amazon Managed Audit by a third-party firm. Either way, assessments cover four categories: Labor, Health and Safety, Environment, and Ethics.

A certificate, self-assessment, or partial report is not accepted in place of a full audit when Amazon has requested one, and Amazon retains the right to decide whether a submitted audit meets its Standards.

Documentation and records

Depending on the relationship, Amazon can also request employment and wage records, environmental permits and registrations, chain of custody records for goods and materials, disclosure of any subcontractors or labour agents used, and evidence of a working grievance mechanism for staff.

Environmental and greenhouse gas reporting

On climate specifically, the Standards say suppliers "should track, document and, upon request, report greenhouse gas emissions to Amazon," and are "encouraged to establish a greenhouse gas reduction goal and publicly-report against their progress." When Amazon does ask for this, its Supply Chain Standards Manual is specific about the basis: suppliers should report "on all relevant scopes in alignment with acceptable criteria under Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP)," or other criteria Amazon accepts. For emissions reporting, Amazon's Manual points suppliers towards reporting all relevant scopes in alignment with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, or other criteria accepted by Amazon. 

What Happens If an Amazon Supplier Doesn't Comply? 

Amazon frames its approach as remediation-first rather than punitive. When an issue is identified through an audit, grievance report, or other source, Amazon works with the supplier on a Corrective Action Plan (CAP): the root cause, immediate and longer-term corrective actions, named responsible individuals, and a completion date, returned within 20 business days of the final audit report.

Findings are categorised by severity, and the response scales accordingly:

Failure to implement a CAP "may prevent the Supplier from continuing production or providing services or labor to Amazon." Amazon reserves the right to suspend a relationship at any time for failure to meet the Standards, though it describes termination as "a last resort," considered when a supplier refuses to cooperate with an investigation, fails to progress a remediation plan, or refuses to change a required behaviour.

The practical takeaway: an isolated finding is unlikely to end a relationship with Amazon if it's addressed properly and on time. What puts a supplier at risk is not engaging with the process, not the finding itself.

How Does Amazon's Climate Strategy Affect Suppliers? 

Amazon has committed to reaching net-zero carbon emissions across its global operations by 2040, a goal it has held since co-founding The Climate Pledge in 2019. Its 2025 Sustainability Report sets out where progress currently stands:

• Amazon's total carbon footprint was 80.85 million metric tonnes of CO2e in 2025, up 16% year on year, driven largely by growth in AI and cloud infrastructure
• Carbon intensity (emissions per dollar of revenue) has fallen 38% since 2019, which Amazon points to as evidence of decoupling growth from emissions
• Supply chain emissions, covering building and data centre construction, third-party transportation, and production of Amazon-branded products and hardware, made up 76% of Amazon's total footprint in 2025 and grew 20% compared with 2024
• 100% of the electricity consumed by Amazon's global operations was matched with renewable energy sources in 2025, for the third year running

That supply chain figure matters for suppliers. Because more than three-quarters of Amazon's own footprint sits with the businesses that supply it, Amazon has a direct commercial reason to lean on suppliers for emissions data and reduction commitments, not just as a goodwill request.

What Is The Climate Pledge?

The Climate Pledge is a commitment, co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism in 2019, to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, ten years ahead of the Paris Agreement timeline. Amazon was the first company to sign, and by the end of 2025, 656 companies had joined across 62 industries and 49 countries, up from 549 the year before, including 16 of Amazon's own top suppliers as new signatories. Amazon also backs the commitment through the Climate Pledge Fund, a $2 billion venture investment programme supporting companies developing lower-carbon technologies.

For suppliers, the Pledge is not just a badge Amazon holds for itself. Amazon's Supply Chain Standards Manual sets out a four-part expectation for suppliers who want to align with it:

Does Amazon Require Suppliers to Report Carbon Emissions? 

Amazon's Supply Chain Standards state that suppliers should track and document their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and report them to Amazon upon request. Suppliers are also encouraged to set a GHG reduction goal and publicly report their progress.

When Amazon requests emissions data, its Supply Chain Standards Manual says suppliers should report all relevant emissions scopes in alignment with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP), or other criteria accepted by Amazon. This means suppliers should have a carbon footprint and supporting data ready to demonstrate their emissions and progress.

Amazon's expectations have also become more structured for its largest suppliers. In 2025, Amazon engaged suppliers representing 70% of its supply chain emissions, asking them to join The Climate Pledge, set credible targets, share progress and reduce emissions over time. By the end of the year, 62% of those suppliers had a credible decarbonisation plan in place.

This isn't limited to a single supplier category: 115 Amazon Devices suppliers had committed to reducing emissions, up from 93 the year before; Amazon Grocery received 71 supplier commitments to carbon reduction solutions; Amazon Private Brands worked with 52 suppliers on footprint reduction; and 72% of Amazon Private Brands' Tier 1 apparel suppliers completed the Higg Facility Environmental Module, up from 61% in 2024.

Amazon also introduced a route for suppliers to share decarbonisation plans through CDP in 2025. For businesses supplying multiple large organisations, this can mean responding to similar requests for emissions data and reduction plans from several customers, such as Apple and Microsoft, which both run comparable supplier programmes, or through CDP's own Supply Chain module, used by more than 270 major buyers.

The practical takeaway is simple: you don't necessarily have to wait for Amazon to request your carbon data. Having a complete, GHG Protocol-aligned footprint and a credible reduction plan ready means you're better prepared when a customer request arrives.

How Seedling Can Help

Building a credible carbon footprint from scratch, particularly one that stands up to a large corporate buyer's expectations, is not straightforward without the right support. That's where we come in.

Seedling combines carbon accounting software with one-to-one support from a dedicated carbon expert, so growing businesses can produce a full Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon footprint, aligned to the GHG Protocol, without needing an in-house specialist. We go beyond spend-based estimates to use activity data wherever possible, so your footprint reflects real operational changes as you reduce emissions, not just what you've spent.

If Amazon, or any other large customer, asks for your emissions data or a decarbonisation plan, Seedling's outputs are built to be reused across the requests you're likely to face, whether that's a direct buyer request, CDP disclosure, or a certification such as B Corp. You'll work with an adviser who understands supply chain emissions and can help set a credible, evidenced target. Businesses at this stage can also apply for Seedling Certification, a way to demonstrate that credibility to customers like Amazon directly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Ready to build a carbon footprint that stands up to a customer request, whether it's Amazon, another large buyer, or your own Net Zero plans? Book a demo with the Seedling team.