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Jeff Bezos will contribute US $ 10,000 million to combat climate change

2020-02-18T10:27:29.505Z


Amazon's chief executive announced on Monday a new fund to support scientists, activists and organizations working to mitigate the impact of climate change.


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San Francisco (CNN Business) - Jeff Bezos is putting his importance - and wealth - behind the fight against climate change months after Amazon employees publicly pressured him and the company to do more to address the problem.

Amazon's chief executive announced on Monday a new fund to support scientists, activists and organizations working to mitigate the impact of climate change. Bezos will contribute 10,000 million dollars "to start," he said in an Instagram post.

View this post on Instagram

Today, I'm thrilled to announce I am launching the Bezos Earth Fund.⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet. I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change on this planet we all share. This global initiative will fund scientists, activists, NGOs - any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world. We can save Earth. It's going to take collective action from big companies, small companies, nation states, global organizations, and individuals. Commit ⁣⁣⁣ I'm committing $ 10 billion to start and will begin issuing grants this summer. Earth is the one thing we all have in common - let's protect it, together.⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ - Jeff

A post shared by Jeff Bezos (@jeffbezos) on Feb 17, 2020 at 10:00 am PST

The initiative, called Bezos Earth Fund, will begin granting grants this summer. The $ 10,000 million commitment constitutes less than 8% of the estimated net worth of $ 130 billion of the richest man in the world. Even so, it is one of the greatest charity promises in history, according to a ranking of the Philanthropy Chronicle, behind a contribution of 36 billion dollars from billionaire Warren Buffett in 2006 and an estimated commitment of 16.4 billion dollars. Helen Walton, the late wife of Walmart founder Sam Walton, in 2007.

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"Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet," Bezos said in the publication. "I want to work with others to amplify known ways and explore new ways to combat the devastating impact of climate change."

Bezos has been under pressure from its employees to do more to protect the environment. Thousands of Amazon employees signed a letter last May asking how the company planned to respond to climate change, and many of them organized a strike in September asking them to do more.

A day before the strike, Amazon announced a promise to become carbon neutral by 2040, ten years before the deadline set by the Paris climate agreement. The company also said it will deploy 100,000 electric vans for deliveries in 2024.

"It will take collective measures of large companies, small businesses, national states, global organizations and individuals," said Bezos.

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Amazon employees for Climate Justice, the group that organized the strike last year, responded to Bezos' latest promise by saying that more needs to be done to address underlying causes such as fossil fuel consumption.

"We applaud Jeff Bezos's philanthropy, but one hand can't give what the other is taking away," the group said in a statement Monday, asking Amazon to stop working with oil and gas companies or to fund research centers. that deny climate change.

"Will Jeff Bezos show us real leadership or will he continue to be complicit in the acceleration of the climate crisis, while supposedly trying to help?"

Jeff Bezos

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2020-02-18

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