The world's richest person, Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos, has confirmed a donation of $10 billion that will go towards helping stop climate change.
The $10 billion will be allocated to 16 different climate change groups operating around the world. It is not yet clear though, exactly how the funds will be used. The money may be used to raise awareness of the issue or, it may go towards the creation of new climate-neutral products and production facilities or go towards carbon-capture technologies. It is also not clear how much each individual organisation will receive.
Bezos wrote on Intagram:
"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."
He then added who the recipients of the $10 billion will be:
"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."
A post shared by Jeff Bezos (@jeffbezos)
Bezos has a net worth of around $183.6 billion, meaning that the donation is around 7% of his total wealth. He has previously donated to other good causes such as, a scheme he set up called the Bezos Day 1 Fund. He donated $2 billion to the fund which focuses upon providing shelter for homeless families.
Excited to announce this year's Bezos Day One grants. Thank you to these 32 organizations in 23 states working to end homelessness. I recently spent time with the amazing team at Community of Hope in Washington, D.C. – one of last year’s grantees. https://t.co/Lfy5LUWT99 pic.twitter.com/L0JeDUrjAY
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) November 21, 2019
Bezos has come under huge criticism worldwide for enacting monopolistic practices which undercut competition for years by operating on a loss basis, and for mistreatment of workers in his factories and distribution centres. Many workers groups have claimed that they are worked frantically, not allowed toilet breaks, and paid shoddy wages for back-breaking work. Bezos and Amazon have denied the claims saying they provide a high-quality service. Shares in Amazon have skyrocketed, seriously boosting Bezos's wealth, since the pandemic began, as more and more people relied on internet shopping.
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