Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of e-commerce giant Amazon, has made the first donations as part of his Bezos Earth Fund, which aims to donate $10 billion to help fight against climate change.
Bezos is not only the world's wealthiest man, but also the world's first person to become worth more than $200 billion, per Forbes.
In an Instagram post from yesterday (November 16), 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.
Bezos continued: "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."
Bezos then listed the grantees of the generous donation, found below:
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
World Wildlife Fund.
The Amazon founder announced the $10 billion initiative earlier this year.
Taking to Instagram in February, Bezos wrote: "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."
He added: "We can save Earth. It’s going to take collective action from big companies, small companies, nation states, global organizations, and individuals.
"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."
