CEO Jeff Bezos has created a $10 billion fund to combat climate change.
The Amazon CEO said he’s launching the Bezos Earth Fund, a $10 billion initiative to fund the work of activists, NGOs, and scientists who are taking action on climate change.
“We can save Earth. It’s going to take collective action from big companies, small companies, nation states, global organizations, and individuals (…) Earth is the one thing we all have in common — let’s protect it, together,” wrote the world’s richest man through hist Instagram post.
He is yet to explain how exactly this fund will be structured and planned, as well as the exact type of work that the $10 billion will fund, nevertheless, it’s the first step in the philanthropy persona Mr. Bezos has aspired to take on. This Earth Fund, per Recode, comes after years of criticism that the billionaire was not doing enough charitable work with his extraordinary wealth, pressure that he has begun to cede to in recent years.
According to The Verge, plenty of groups are already working out ways to alleviate the worst effects of fires, floods, and other disasters made worse by climate change. Some groups want to pull planet-heating gases out of the air. That could come through nature-based solutions like preserving and restoring forests. $1 could plant one new tree in a damaged forest, the Arbor Day Foundation tells The Verge. Other massive tree-planting campaigns have garnered high-profile endorsements from YouTube stars, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Donald Trump, and The World Economic Forum.
While the Bezos donation represents just under 8% of Bezos’ net worth, the sum alone is 10 times as much as foundations across the globe gave in 2018 to try to stop climate change. However, logical doubts flourish as Bezos still has not signed The Giving Pledge, the promise by some of the world’s billionaires to donate most of their money in their lifetimes or in their wills. His wife, Mackenzie Bezos, after finalizing the largest divorce settlement ever recorded at $35 billion, almost immediately decided on her own to sign it, according to Vox.
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