Amazon’s Bezos Pledges $10 Billion to Fight Climate Change
Bezos, the world’s richest man, says he will start issuing grants this summer
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says he will give $10 billion of his own money to fight climate change.
The world's wealthiest person made the pledge Monday in an Instagram post.
“Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet,” Bezos wrote. “I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change.”
He said the initiative, called the Bezos Earth Fund, would begin issuing grants this summer.
With the announcement, Bezos joins the ranks of several other U.S. billionaires who have pledged large sums of money to fight the effects of climate change, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and hedge fund manager Tom Steyer.
Amazon has faced criticism from its own employees for not doing enough to combat climate change. The company, which delivers billions of parcels each year, has a high carbon footprint based on the planes, trucks and cars it uses to transport items around the world.
Last year, Bezos pledged to make the retailer net carbon neutral by 2040.