The e-commerce giant's first Canadian disaster relief hub will stock 180,000 emergency items near Edmonton. The move comes as Amazon's emissions hit 81 million tonnes of CO2, fueled by data centre expansion for AI.
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Amazon is opening a disaster relief facility near Edmonton that will stock wildfire and flood supplies, even as the company's own carbon emissions climb.
The hub operates out of the YEG1 fulfilment centre south of Edmonton, near Nisku. It will partner with the Canadian Red Cross and Team Rubicon Canada to deliver emergency supplies including air purifiers, N95 masks, and respirators. Amazon said the centre is operational now but won't be fully stocked until October. Among the 180,000 planned relief items are supplies for tornado, flood, and wildfire response.
The Edmonton region was chosen for its location near major roadways, rail systems, and air networks, a company spokesperson told BetaKit. Western Canada faces increasing wildfire risk as climate change drives drought and extreme temperatures. The hub will serve all of Canada, the spokesperson said.
Amazon donates the time, emergency supplies, storage space, delivery costs, and the full capabilities of its logistics and technology network during disaster response, the spokesperson said. The company has no current plans to add more hubs in Canada but said the opportunity could be explored based on demand and partner feedback.
The investment arrives as climate-driven weather events intensify. It also comes as Amazon's own emissions are rising. The company's 2025 sustainability report showed overall greenhouse gas emissions increased 16% year-over-year to nearly 81 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. That is more than New Zealand's entire annual emissions. The increase followed several years of declines.
Amazon attributed the rise partly to data centre expansion. Emissions from purchased electricity grew 34% in 2025, driven by electricity use in data centers, electrification of the delivery network, and building electrification. The report said Amazon added more data centre capacity globally than any other company in 2025, including more than 1.2 gigawatts in the fourth quarter alone.
Alberta is positioning itself as a data-centre-friendly jurisdiction. Meta recently announced a $13 billion data centre development just north of Edmonton in Sturgeon County. Amazon lobbyist registry entries from June 2025 show representatives meeting with the provincial government on topics including cloud-based solutions and related support services. The Ministry of Technology and Innovation did not comment on specific plans.
Amazon's overall carbon intensity fell 38% in 2025, meaning emissions per unit of economic activity are shrinking. The absolute increase, however, reflects the scale of the company's infrastructure buildout for AI and cloud services. The sustainability report stated that indirect emissions from electricity purchasing represent 5% of Amazon's total carbon footprint.
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