Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has announced plans on Instagram last night to use $10bn of his $130bn net worth to help fight climate change.
Major tech firms around the world have been making significant pledges in the name of fighting climate change, with some switching to green energy sources for data centres in an effort to offset carbon emissions. Most recently, Microsoft has set an ambitious target of becoming carbon-negative by 2030 and removing all the carbon its company has ever emitted from the atmosphere by 2050.
Amazon pledged to become carbon neutral by 2040, but CEO Jeff Bezos has still come under fire from employees for the company's lack of action on climate change. Bezos himself is the world's richest man with a net worth of over $130bn and has given very little proportionally to good causes over the years, having reportedly donated under $100m to charity from the time that he became a billionaire up until the launch of a $2bn homelessness charity in 2018.
Yesterday on his personal Instagram account, Jeff Bezos announced the launch of the Bezos Earth Fund with a $10bn pledge to fight climate change. He called on others to join in on the global initiative to explore new ways to fight the impact of climate change, and announced a $10bn commitment to start, with the fund due to start distributing grants this summer.
"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," Jeff wrote. "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."
Source: Instagram
