Jeff Bezos: $10 Billion To Combat Climate Change

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 18, 2020
  • Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has announced he is donating $10 billion to combat climate change as part of a new initiative called the Bezos Earth Fund

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has announced he is donating $10 billion to combat climate change as part of a new initiative called the Bezos Earth Fund. The new fund was announced in an Instagram post:

 

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Today, I’m thrilled to announce I am launching the Bezos Earth Fund.⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet. I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change on this planet we all share. This global initiative will fund scientists, activists, NGOs — any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world. We can save Earth. It’s going to take collective action from big companies, small companies, nation states, global organizations, and individuals. ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ I’m committing $10 billion to start and will begin issuing grants this summer. Earth is the one thing we all have in common — let’s protect it, together.⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ – Jeff

A post shared by Jeff Bezos (@jeffbezos) on

“Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet. I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change on this planet we all share. This global initiative will fund scientists, activists, NGOs — any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world. We can save Earth. It’s going to take collective action from big companies, small companies, nation states, global organizations, and individuals,” wrote Bezos in the Instagram post.

The money will be used for helping scientists, NGOs, and efforts that offer real possibilities to help preserve the planet from the impact of climate change. The fund will start issuing grants this summer.

Jeff Bezos has a net worth of $130 billion. Bezos also donates to a number of other philanthropic causes. Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie Bezos is a philanthropist who signed The Giving Pledge.

Amazon’s employees have been putting pressure on the company to address climate change issues. And a group of Amazon employees – known as Amazon Employees for Climate Justice – signed a letter in May asking the company to do more followed by a scheduled walkout in September.

One day before the walkout, Amazon announced plans to go carbon neutral by 2040 — which is ten years before the Paris climate agreement deadline. And Amazon also announced plans to deploy 100,000 electric delivery vans by 2024.

“We applaud Jeff Bezos’ philanthropy, but one hand cannot give what the other is taking away,” said Amazon Employees for Climate Justice in a tweet referring to the company’s investments in climate-denying think tanks and climate-denying policies: