SHAREHOLDERPROPOSALS carbon through energy efficiency enhancements, new technologies, and sustainable building materials. We have started applying these insights across building types and are incorporating best practices into future building development plans. • Circular Economy and Driving Toward Zero Additional Packaging. Amazon is minimizing waste, increasing recycling, andproviding options for our customers to reuse, repair, and recycle their products. We created our Frustration-Free Packaging program to encourage manufacturers to package their products in easy-to-open, 100% recyclable packaging, andsince 2015, we have eliminated more than one million tons of packaging material and reduced the weight of outboundpackagingbyover36%.Weareimprovingthedesignandmaterialsusedforourpackaging,reducingweight, andimprovingthecompositionofourplastic packaging to use less material and incorporate more recycled content. • Investing in Our Communities. Amazon supports our communities by providing access to food and basic needs, assisting in the COVID-19 community response, supporting disaster relief, and investing in access to computer science education.In2021,weestablishedtheAmazonHousingEquityFundtoprovidemorethan$2billioninbelow-marketloans andgrants to preserve and create affordable homes for individuals and families earning moderate to low incomes in our three hometowncommunities—Washingtonstate’sPugetSoundregion;theWashington,D.C.,andArlington, Virginia, metropolitan areas; and Nashville, Tennessee. • HumanRights.Ourcommitmentandapproachtohumanrightsareinformedbyleadinginternationalstandardsand frameworksdevelopedbytheUNandtheILO.AmazoniscommittedtorespectingandsupportingtheUNGuidingPrinciples onBusiness and HumanRights, the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Core Conventions of the ILO, and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. We have codified our commitment to human rights in our AmazonGlobalHumanRightsPrinciples. We also publish Supply Chain Standards, which detail the requirements andexpectations for our suppliers, their supply chains, and selling partners who list products in our stores, and they are groundedinprinciples of inclusivity, continuous improvement, and supply chain accountability. In addition, since 2020, we have worked with a sustainability and human rights consulting firm to identify salient human rights risks across our business, and we plan to use the assessment results to build on current practice and prioritize our human rights due diligence efforts. In 2020, we also conducted our first human rights impact assessment to assess the raw and recovered materials supply chain for Amazon-branded digital devices. • HumanCapital.Wesupportouremployeesthroughinitiativesfocusingonworkplacehealthandsafety,investments in benefitsandopportunities,andemployeeengagement.WeaimtobeEarth’ssafestplacetowork.In2021,weinvestedover $300million in safety improvements such as capital improvements, new safety technology, vehicle safety controls, and engineered ergonomic solutions. In January 2022, we also published our first safety report highlighting our commitment to and innovations in worker safety and disclosing key safety metrics. In the United States, we are a leader in providing our employees an average starting wage of more than $18 per hour, more than double the federal minimum wage. In addition, we provide numerous benefits to our employees, including comprehensive medical benefits, a 401(k) plan with a Company match, and up to 20 weeks of parental leave (birth parents are eligible for up to 20 weeks of leave and partners up to six). • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We continue to prioritize pay equity and publish details on gender and racial/ethnic group pay statistics. When evaluating 2021 compensation, our reported data demonstrates that women globally and in the United States earned 99.8 cents and 99.9 cents, respectively, for every dollar that men earned performing the same jobs, and racial/ethnic minorities in the United States earned 99.2 cents for every dollar that white employees earned performingthesamejobs.Weareinvestingininternalandexternalprogramstoassistdiverseleaderstoadvanceintomore senior roles. For example, we are one of the initial 12 launch employers participating in the MLT Black Equity at Work Certification Program, which is a clear and comprehensive new standard that requires employers to assess and make meaningfulprogresstowardachievingBlackequityinternallywhilesupportingBlackequityinsociety.Additionally,starting in 2020, our senior leadership team dove deep into the mechanisms we use to hire, develop, and promote employees, sothatwecanbetteridentifyopportunitiestoensureequitableaccessforall.Wealsopubliclyannouncedambitious2020 and2021Company-widegoalsfordiversity, equity, and inclusion. We continue to inspect and refine the mechanisms weusetohire,develop, evaluate, and retain our employees to promote equity for all candidates and employees. Our 13 employee-led Affinity Groups, which engage employees across hundreds of chapters around the world, further foster our commitmenttodiversity, equity, and inclusion. These ambitious and impactful goals and initiatives build on Amazon’s long-term commitment to sustainability, as well as our commitmenttosupporting our employees, partners in our supply chain, and our communities. These are just some examples of the many sustainability, environmental, social, and human capital initiatives we have underway, as we seek to constantly invent across the Company. 2022ProxyStatement 27