How the Bezos Earth Fund spends its billions (2024)

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Every year, more than $800 billion dollars is given away through philanthropy, but only a small fraction of that goes towardsmitigating climate change. While that fraction is increasing each year,in 2021 just2% of philanthropy dollars went toward climate mitigation, according toa report by Climate Works.

“Ten years ago there was very little funding [and]there's still not enough” Andrew Steer, chief executive officer of the Bezos Earth Fund, said on this week’s episode of theZeropodcast. “Every dollar allocated has to be used carefully.”

The Bezos Earth Fund was launched in early 2020 by Amazon.com Inc. founder and Executive Chair Jeff Bezos, whomade the announcement on Instagram. Bezospledged$10 billionto fightingclimate change and protecting the natural world;Steer was charged with figuring out how to spend that money by 2030. So far, the fund has allocated$1.6 billion in grantsto programs ranging from nature restoration to decarbonizing industry.

While $10 billion is a lot of money, it’s far from commensurate with the scopeof the climate challenge. Globally,$3.5 trillionwill need to be spentannuallyto reach net zero by 2050. Steer says he expects philanthropic spending on climate change to double over the next few years, but even with that increase, philanthropies will have to work closely with governments and corporations tomaximize funding and remain effective.

One way the Bezos Earth Fund hopes to do that is by taking early bets on frontier technologies, operating almost likea venture capital firm that looksfor high-risk, high-return investments. The fund distributeda grant $12.5 million grant to a group of organizations focused on developingzero-emissions shipping, for example.

Government and “private investors at the moment are not willing to go into certain technologies, partly because it's risky,” says Steer. “Philanthropy could help derisk that.”