Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced on Monday that he will provide $ 791 million in grants through his Bezos Earth Fund to 16 organizations working to protect the environment.
This fund is part of Bezos's $ 10 billion program to support scientists, activists, nongovernmental organizations and environmental groups.
“Over the past few months, I've been learning from a group of incredibly smart people who have dedicated their lives to tackling climate change and its impact on communities around the world,” Bezos wrote in an Instagram post on Monday announcing the news. “I am inspired by what they do and I am happy to help them expand.”
Bezos' $ 10 billion program is part of his personal fortune, which the Bloomberg Billionaires Index currently estimates at $ 184 billion.
Interestingly, Amazon has recently been criticized for its environmental impact due to its emphasis on faster and faster delivery, with transportation being the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions after agriculture.
In May 2019, thousands of Amazon employees signed a letter asking how the company plans to respond to climate change, and many of them went on strike in September 2019 urging managers to do more for the environment.
That same year, Amazon announced a commitment to carbon neutral by 2040, ten years ahead of the Paris Climate Agreement deadline.
