Jeff Bezos Announces First Of $10bn Donations To Fight Climate Change

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos has confirmed the first of his $10 billion (£7.6 billion) pledge to help stop climate change.

Bezos, whose net worth is estimated at $183.6 billion (£139 billion), has posted on Instagram to share the news.

He wrote: "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.

"Today, I'm pleased to announce the first Bezos Earth Fund recipients - 16 organizations working on innovative, ambitious, and needle-moving solutions. This $791 million in donations is just the beginning of my $10 billion commitment to fund scientists, activists, NGOs, and others. We can all protect Earth's future by taking bold action now."

The 56-year-old added who the recipients of the first lot of donations will be.

He wrote: "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, and World Wildlife Fund."

The initiative was announced back in February with Bezos once again taking to social media to share his news.

He explained that he will be putting in the money to start off, and then he will be issuing grants over the summer, adding: "Earth is the one thing we all have in common - let's protect it, together."

It comes after he put together a similar scheme called the Bezos Day 1 Fund. It was launched this in September 2018, pledging a $2bn (£1.6bn) commitment to focus on sheltering homeless families.

In November 2019, he announced that he would be donating $98.5 million (£76.7m) to 32 different organisations.

The money last year was shared around 32 groups in 23 different states in America with the monetary values ranging from $1.25m (£973,000) to $5m (£3.8m).

The Bezos Day 1 Fund website said that the money has gone to support 'meaningful, high-impact work to provide shelter and support for young families in communities' across the US.

Topics: jeff bezos, Amazon

Amelia Ward

Amelia is a journalist at LADbible. After studying journalism at Liverpool John Moores and Salford Uni (don't ask), she went into PR and then the world of music. After a few years working on festivals and events, she went back to her roots. In her spare time, Amelia likes music, Liverpool FC, and spending good, quality time with her cat, Paul. You can contact Amelia at [email protected].

@ameliasward