The world's richest man, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has pledged $10 billion to fight climate change. On Monday, he announced the launch of the Bezos Earth Fund in an Instagram post, writing, "climate change is the biggest threat to our planet." Bloomberg estimates that Bezos is personally worth $130 billion [1], which means he is committing just shy of 8% of his total fortune.
Bezos says he will work with the experts who are already researching, and actively fighting to save the Earth. "This global initiative will fund scientists, activists, NGOs — any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world." He goes on to say that saving the earth is going to take collective action from big (and small) companies, global organisations, nation states, and individuals.
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And, it seems, the $10 billion is just the beginning, with the plan to "begin issuing grants this summer." This isn't the first time Bezos has spoken about climate change. In Sept. 2019, Amazon cofounded The Climate Pledge [4], which set the goal of meeting the Paris Climate Agreement 10 years early. Although President Donald Trump announced in 2017 that the US would be withdrawing from the agreement [5], Amazon has committed to net zero carbon by 2040, and 100% renewable energy by 2030.
While speaking at Amazon's Smbhav summit in New Delhi [6] last month, he said, "Anybody today who is not acknowledging that climate change is real — that we humans are affecting this planet in a very significant and dangerous way — those people are not being reasonable."