Jeff Bezos has allotted 10 billion dollars in the fight against global warming.
Bezos is the world’s richest person with a net worth of $130 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, so the pledge represents almost 8% of his fortune.
The billionaire ansnounced on the massive social media platform Instagram, that he’s creating a $10 billion fund to tackle climate change.
The founder of Amazon and the world’s richest person announced Monday that he is launching the “Bezos Earth Fund” to fund scientists, activists and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with the capital they need to help any effort that offers an actual possibility to help the preservation and protection our natural earth.
Bezos Earth Fund
The Amazon CEO on Monday unveiled a new fund to back scientists, activists and organizations working to mitigate the impact of climate change. Bezos posted, “The initiative will commit $10 billion “to start and will begin giving out grants this summer.” he wrote on his Instagram.
Despite being under 10% of the world’s richest man’s net worth, it is one of the biggest charitable pledges ever, according to a ranking by the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Following the $36 billion commitment by billionaire Warren Buffett in 2006 and an estimated $16.4 billion pledge in 2007, by founder of Walmart Sam Walton’s late wife Helen Walton.
Bezos has previously invested in ‘Breakthrough Energy Ventures’, a fund whose goals are financing the creation of technologies that can mitigate climate change and lower the use of fossil fuels and carbon waste in sectors like, energy generating, food farming and manufacturing.
In an Instagram post Bezos wrote, “Climate change is the single biggest threat to our planet,”. “I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to uncover new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change on this planet we all share.”
He went on to write, “It’s going to take collective action from big companies, small companies, nation states, global organizations, and individuals”.
Amazon Workers
Jeff Bezos is throwing himself and his wealth behind the war against climate change mere months after Amazon employees publicly pressured him and the company to take more action to address the issue.
The personal ‘promise’ by Bezos to finance individuals and organizations working to “save Earth” is a far cry from how Amazon deals with actions taken by its employees that promote the same goal.
After Christmas, Amazon was slandered by a group of employees for supposedly threatening to sack members of an organization called Amazon Employees For Climate Justice.
This announcement has raised eyebrows from Greenpeace and the Amazon Employees group, which point to Amazon’s annual carbon footprint of 44.4m metric tonnes – the equivalent of the annual emissions of Norway.
Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, the group that staged last year’s walkout, responded to Bezos’ latest pledge by saying more has to be done to deal with underlying causes like fossil fuel consumption.
“We are pleased with Jeff Bezos’ philanthropy, but one hand cannot give what the other is taking away,” the group said in a statement on Monday, demanding Amazon cease doing business with oil and gas companies or funding think tanks that cover up climate change.
“Will Jeff Bezos show us true leadership or will he continue to be a culprit in the fueling of climate crisis, while masquerading as the savior?” they added.
What could $10 billion be used for?
Energy Grids
With $10 billion, Bezos could reinvent energy grids around the world by supplying research grants to companies working on these “smart grid” technologies.
Using a smart grid in America alone could stop 442m metric tonnes of carbon emissions each year, experts estimate. The US has invested $7 billion in smart grid technology, meaning Bezos could comfortably match its total spend.
Ocean thermal energy conversion
Bezos is drawn to ambitious projects, and one particular technology that’s increasingly appealing to climate change experts is ocean thermal energy conversion or “OTEC”.
One plant could produce 10,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide sequestration per year per megawatt. A 50 megawatt OTEC plant costs around $75m. Bezos will be able to build 133 of them with the grant.
Reforestation
There’s nothing more apt than Amazon’s founder funding an effort to rebuild the Amazon rainforest as part of a global reforestation project.
Reforestation schemes can cost up to $1,000 per hectare, meaning Bezos could fund 10 million hectares of reforested land.
source: foxbusiness.com
