The Bezos Earth Fund announced Monday that it is providing $443 million in grants to climate and environmental groups working in Africa, South America, and the United States.
The new funding is part of a monthslong effort by billionaire Jeff Bezos to ramp up his giving toward climate change mitigation, including by partnering with other major philanthropic organizations.
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The Bezos Earth Fund said it is providing 44 grants to several organizations. Those include $261 million for the 30x30 initiative, which aims to conserve 30% of the world’s land and oceans by 2030 “with a focus on the Congo Basin and Tropical Andes,” according to a press statement from the Bezos Earth Fund. Among the conservation grants is $5 million for a marine conservation initiative in the Galapagos and eastern Pacific.
An additional $130 million is going to 19 organizations supporting the Justice40 Initiative, launched by the U.S. administration to ensure that at least 40% of federal investments in climate and clean energy go to communities most affected by poverty and pollution.
And $51 million in grant funding aims to assist with “land restoration in the U.S. and Africa,” according to the statement. The funding is part of $1 billion that the Bezos Earth Fund pledged toward land restoration during the United Nations Climate Change Conference last month.
“The goal of the Bezos Earth Fund is to support change agents who are seizing the challenges that this decisive decade presents,” said Andrew Steer, president and CEO at the Bezos Earth Fund, in the statement. “Through these grants, we are advancing climate justice and the protection of nature, two areas that demand stronger action.”
The $10 billion Bezos Earth Fund was established in 2020. Since then, the fund has announced several large commitments, including the $1 billion for land restoration and an additional $1 billion for food systems.
The Bezos Earth Fund belongs to an alliance of philanthropic organizations that have pledged $5 billion toward the 30x30 conservation initiative. Additionally, the fund is part of a trio of philanthropic megadonors working with multilateral development banks and private industry to spur at least $100 billion in renewable energy investments in the global south.
About the author
Stephanie Beasley@Steph_Beasley
Stephanie Beasley is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global philanthropy with a focus on regulations and policy. She is an alumna of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and Oberlin College and has a background in Latin American studies. She previously covered transportation security at POLITICO.
