Bezos launches $10 billion-worth 'Earth fund' to fight climate change
In order to tackle the problem of climate change, Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, has announced the plan to create a new 'Earth Fund' and invest $10 billion in it. The effort, he says, will help industry leaders and scientists develop novel solutions to save the persistently-warming planet Earth. Here are more details.
'Bezos Earth Fund' to fund innovation for fighting climate change
Just a few hours ago, Bezos took to Instagram to launch the 'Bezos Earth Fund' with his initial commitment of $10 billion. The Amazon boss, who has a net worth of $130 billion, stated the money collected through the fund will be used to finance "scientists, activists, NGOs — any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world."
Emphasis on fighting climate change through collaborative efforts
Bezos described climate change as the biggest "threat" to humanity, but at the same time, he noted that it can certainly be handled - with collaborative efforts. "We can save Earth," the billionaire said in the same Instagram post, adding that "it's going to take collective action from big companies, small companies, nation-states, global organizations, and individuals."
You can read his post here
No more details about Bezos Earth Fund available
Apart from Bezos's post, which says the fund will be issuing grants this summer, there is hardly any information on the whole effort. Amazon has not shared anything on the matter, but a spokesperson from the company did assert that the $10 billion going into this initiative will be from Bezos's personal wealth, not from the foundations he had established in the recent past.
Rare big commitment to combat climate change
While the amount pledged by Bezos is huge, it's worth noting that this is one of the first big steps he has personally taken to combat climate change. Prior to this, he had largely been investing in Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a Bill Gates-chaired fund which finances technologies to reduce the impact of climate change and carbon emissions from different industries.
Amazon is also eying to go green
Beyond that, Amazon has also committed to reducing its carbon footprint. The company has said it will reduce its net carbon emissions from operations to zero by 2040 and switch to 100% renewable energy by 2030 to power its entire corporate infrastructure.
Employees had been calling Amazon to lead climate change fight
Ironically, the action from Bezos also comes after a group of Amazon employees spoke up about the need for the retail giant to lead the climate change fight and solve the problems it has been causing. This included tone-deaf actions like helping oil & gas companies ravage Earth, funding climate-denying think-tanks like Competitive Enterprise Institute, and harming kids near its warehouses through diesel trucks.
Amazon threatened to fire employees raising alarms
In fact, back in January, when a bunch of Amazon employees formed a group to call out the company for the environmental problems it's been causing, many top executives working for the conglomerate threatened to fire those speaking up, drawing major criticism.
