This is part of Amazon’s efforts to achieve net zero carbon across its operations in the coming years.
Amazon Japan has started using the country’s iconic bullet trains to move packages between facilities in different regions. The company said its partnership with Japan Railway was part of its efforts to reduce both delivery times and carbon dioxide emissions. Japan’s Shinkansen can reach speeds of up to 200 mph and can cut travel times, for example, from Tokyo to Osaka, from about 8 hours to two and a half hours. They also run on electricity supplied by an overhead electrical system.
In 2019, the company launched an initiative to achieve net zero carbon emissions for deliveries. Amazon said at the time that it expected half of its shipments to be zero by 2030, with help from electric vehicles, renewable energy and renewable packaging. As part of the Climate Pledge, which she co-founded, it has committed to reaching net zero carbon across its global operations by 2040. Transporting packages via the Shinkansen is certainly one of the ways Amazon can achieve these goals. In parts of Europe, Amazon also delivers packages via electric cargo bikes and offers drone deliveries in several cities in the United States.
However, the company’s generative AI projects undermine its sustainability goals. In the 2025 Sustainability Report, Amazon admitted that its overall carbon emissions increased for the first time since 2022. The company blamed most of that growth on its data center deployment, with its increased energy consumption coming from AI chips that require more power to operate and cool than traditional chips. The construction of its data centers has also contributed to the growth of its carbon emissions.
Through its partnership with Japan Railway, Amazon transports packages on passenger spaces of bullet trains on three routes, which connect its operations in the Greater Tokyo area with central and northern Japan. It began delivering packages on the Tohoku Shinkansen, which connects Tokyo to Fukushima and Sendai, among other regions, in March 2026. Last May, it also began delivering packages via the Tohoku-Hokkaido Shinkansen (Tokyo to Hokkaido) and the Hokuriku Shinkansen (Tokyo to the Hokuriku region, including Nagano).
