Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos announced 16 initial recipients of the Earth Fund who will receive $791 million in donations.
Bezos announced the first recipients of his $10 billion Earth Fund on Monday and named the beneficiaries to the climate action fund since its announcement in February.
The top donations include The Nature Conservancy, Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense Fund, World Resources Institute and the World Wildlife Fund, which will each receive $100 million.
The Earth Fund is designed to combat the effects of climate change by issuing grants to scientists, activists and other organizations in their efforts to “preserve and protect the natural world.”
“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 said in an Instagram post on Monday.
“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 organisations working on innovative, ambitious, and needle-moving solutions,” he added.
The list of grantees include international NGOs and climate justice groups, among others.
Collectively, these 16 organisations will receive $791 million in donations, but Bezos did not specify which organisation will receive how much.
“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 said.