By
Chimamanda U. Martha
March 11th, 2024
Amazon CEO allocated $10 billion to start the Bezos Earth Fund and issue grants to climate-oriented activists and scientists to stop climate change.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced he will donate $10 billion to a course in reverting the climate change which is the biggest threat on Earth. The money of this new Earth Fund will be channeled to those who are ready to take the leading role in the fight against climate change.
Through his Instagram page, Bezos explained that the funds will be used to issue grants to scientists, also interested activists and other organizations. He said the greater course will be preserving and protecting the natural world for healthy living.
He noted:
“It’s going to take collective action from big companies, small companies, nation states, global organizations, and individuals.”
He added that with climate change being the biggest threat to our planet he would want to work alongside other partners in the same course to amplify known methods and also explore other new ways of tackling the devastating impact caused by climate change.
The Earth Fund is expected to start issuing money for climate oriented causes in the second quarter of 2020.
Amazon Company and Climate Change
Amazon, being a multinational eCommerce company, has made a huge contribution in climate change, since it is associated with large volume of deliveries. With climate change becoming a topic of the day due to the increased effects felt and observed, even the Amazon employees took to the internet to sign an initiative pushing the company’s management to be more compliant. A large group of Amazon employees risked their job starting a move Amazon Employees for Climate Justice.
It reiterated by first supporting Jeff Bezos’s initiative to fund the cause on saving the earth, however, on the other hand, they showed concerns over his’ support in the gas and oil sector. “We applaud Jeff Bezos’ philanthropy, but one hand cannot give what the other is taking away,” the group said.
However, the company has been very vibrant in pushing for the use of green energy sources like changing to electric vehicles in product delivery. The company also said it’s committed to honoring the Paris Agreement regarding climate change, despite President Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement.
The company said that it is planning to buy a fleet of electric vehicles by 2021, where it is projecting 10,000 new electric vehicles by 2022 and 100, 000 by 2030 to be in full operation.
In conclusion, Bezos said that Amazon will be reporting its emission metrics regularly and plans on introducing decarbonization strategies soon. The company also expects to scale its use of renewable energy by 2024 from 40% to 80%.