Jeff Bezos said on Monday that he’s giving $10 billion to fight climate change.
The Amazon CEO and richest man in the world announced in a post on Instagram that he’d start the Bezos Earth Fund. He said he expects to start giving out grants this summer.
With an estimated net worth of nearly $130 billion, his pledge accounts for about 7.7% of his wealth.
“Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet,” Bezos said. “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.”
The move follows pressure from Amazon employees to push the company to do more to fight climate change. More than 350 employees signed a Medium blog in January calling for net-zero emissions by 2030, among other requests.
In September, Bezos announced Amazon’s climate pledge to get the company carbon-neutral by 2040, 100% renewable energy by 2o30, and 100,000 electric delivery vehicles by 2030.
Bezos is the only American among the world’s five richest people who has not signed the Giving Pledge, in which participants promise to give away more than half of their wealth during their lifetimes or in their wills, Business Insider’s Paige Leskin wrote. His ex-wife, MacKenzie Bezos, signed the pledge in May.
His full Instagram post read:
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
