Pratham Chitlangiya
24th November 2020
Jeff Bezos taking a step to fight climate change (Source: Washington Post)
In an Instagram post that made headlines, Jeff Bezos on 16 November 2020, announced that he had given $7.9 crore to 16 different organisations that are working on fighting climate change. The donations are a part of his Bezos Earth Fund, and the grant was the first of gifts after his pledge in February which contained the promise of donating a whopping $1000 crores to fight climate change.
"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," Bezos wrote in his Instagram post. "Today, I'm pleased to announce the first Bezos Earth Fund recipients—16 organisations working on innovative, ambitious and needle-moving solutions. We can all protect Earth's future by taking bold action now".
The World Wildlife Fund, which received $10 crores, stated that it would deploy the gift to focus on three nature-based solutions to climate change- protecting and restoring mangroves in Colombia, Fiji, Madagascar and Mexico, scaling sustainable seaweed farming in the North Atlantic, and restoring and protecting forests and other ecosystems in the Amazon, Africa and Central America.
Another $10 crores was granted to the Environmental Defense Fund, who stated that it would use the money to complete and launch MethaneSAT. This satellite would locate and measure sources of methane pollution around the world while providing public access to data "that ensures accountability and drives deep reductions of this pollution," according to a press release from EDF.
The Environmental Defense Fund will also use the funds to research and "build confidence" in carbon credits, which are bought by companies who want to offset their carbon footprint. These 'credits' are then used on environmental projects, such as planting trees in forests or implementing manure digesters—machines that absorb and convert methane into clean energy—in feedlots.
The ClimateWorks Foundation received $5 crores from the Bezos Earth Fund and said that it would use the grant to "drive climate action in the transportation and industrial sectors, which combined generate half of global greenhouse-gas emissions," according to a press release. Bezos also gave $10 crores to the Natural Resources Defense Council, $10 crores to The Nature Conservancy, $43 million to The Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice, and $15 million to the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The following list names all of Jeff Bezos donations to other organisations which are dedicated to fighting climate change and come under the Bezos Earth Fund recipients: The Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund- $4.3 crores, ClimateWorks Foundation- $5 crores, Dream Corps Green For All- $1 crore, Eden Reforestation Projects- $50 lakhs, Energy Foundation- $3 crores, Environmental Defense Fund- $10 crores, the Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice- $4.3 crores, Natural Resources Defense Council- $10 crores, the Nature Conservancy- $10 crores, NDN Collective- $1.2 crores, Rocky Mountain Institute- $1 crores, Salk Institute for Biological Studies- $3 crores, The Solutions Project- $4.3 crores, Union of Concerned Scientists- $1.5 crores, World Resources Institute- $10 crores, and the World Wildlife Fund- $10 crores.
(Sources: Forbes, CNN, Times of India, Vox)
Edited by: Suditi Jha