Jeff Bezos has announced the first donation from his $10 billion fund to fight climate change.
The Amazon founder debuted The Bezos Earth Fund earlier this year in an Instagram post. He described climate change as ‘the biggest threat to our planet’.
Now, Bezos has chosen 16 environmental organizations to support with a total donation of $791 million.
‘We can all protect the Earth’s future’
He said: “I’ve spent the past several months learning from a group of incredibly smart people who’ve made it their life’s work to fight climate change and its impact on communities around the world.
“I’m inspired by what they’re doing, and excited to help them scale….
“We can all protect Earth’s future by taking bold action now.”
Controversy
Bezos’ growing wealth has been met with heavy criticism during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier this year, the entrepreneur’s fortune skyrocketed a staggering $13 billion in one single day. His net worth is said to be more than $180 billion at the time of writing.
The beneficiaries of Jeff Bezos’ first round of donations are:
- The Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund.
- ClimateWorks Foundation.
- Dream Corps Green For All.
- Eden Reforestation Projects.
- Energy Foundation.
- Environmental Defense Fund.
- The Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice.
- Natural Resources Defense Council.
- The Nature Conservancy.
- NDN Collective.
- Rocky Mountain Institute.
- Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
- The Solutions Project.
- Union of Concerned Scientists.
- World Resources Institute.
- World Wildlife Fund.
