What's inside the $10B Bezos Earth Fund?

In February 2020, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and at that point the world’s richest man, announced a $10 billion commitment to combat the climate crisis. That commitment led to the creation of the Bezos Earth Fund — perhaps the largest philanthropic organization working wholly on climate-related causes. Last month, it hit headlines after it announced a $100 million grant for projects that can provide artificial intelligence-driven solutions to climate change. The fund aims to fully disburse its founder’s $10 billion commitment by 2030, in line with the fulfillment of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. As of writing, it has already disbursed $1.7 billion of the $10 billion. We dug into the data available on its website to see where the grants are going and what kind of projects the fund decided to prioritize. It is worth noting that not all grants claimed to be made by the fund are readily available on its website. What are the main priorities of the fund? The fund has seven main programs of funding, ranging from environmental conservation to economics and finance. These are: • Conserving and restoring nature. • Environmental justice. • Decarbonizing energy and industry. • Next technologies. • Future of food. • Economics, finance, and markets. • Monitoring, data, and accountability. The conserving and restoring nature program has an initial commitment of $2 billion out of the $10 billion while the future of food program has $1 billion attached to it. The other programs do not have a specific amount of funding specified. Not all of the money has gone to global programs. Projects that will benefit the United States received 32.3%, or $535.1 million. The total of non-U.S. grants amounts to $1.1 billion, although grants from the fund have slowed down since its inception in 2020. $452 million in grants for non-U.S. projects were reported in 2020, while $112.5 million was awarded in 2023. Out of the amount distributed so far, conserving and restoring nature accounts for the largest proportion of the funding distributed so far, with almost $301 million, or 27.2%. This does not include the grants that are tagged to multiple programs, or U.S.-based grants. Decarbonizing energy and industry comes in second with $161.5 million and then next technologies with $80 million. Where has the money gone? Around half of all global funding went to projects and organizations that aim to reach a worldwide range. We tagged these projects as “global” and found out that $531.3 million was granted to such initiatives. Projects that concern South America, specifically the Tropical Andes, received a total of $109.8 million in grants. Next to this are projects for Africa alone with $25.9 million. Country-wise, Brazil received the most with $54.1 million; most of the projects are related to taking care of the Brazilian Amazon, along with the Indigenous communities within the Amazon. This is followed by India with $33.3 million, for a single project to revamp crop residue burning by farmers, and then Gabon with $30 million. Who got the most of the pot? Out of the 156 grants that we’ve extracted, 142 went to unique organizations. Most of the bigger grants were given to projects with multiple partners. The highest grant awarded so far amounts to $80 million, given to the Breakthrough Energy Ventures group. This grant will allow them to advocate for policies that advance clean technologies to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. They are also the top solo awardees on the list. Then the Wildlife Conservation Society follows with three grants amounting to $65 million. The highest award is a $40 million grant that will cover most of the Congo Basin’s conservation, management, and governance. This is followed by $50 million for the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet — an organization that was set up by the IKEA Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and the Bezos Earth Fund — which is dedicated to developing green energy solutions for countries in need. Re:wild, an organization founded by a group of scientists focused on protecting and rewilding the planet’s ecosystem, follows with $36.4 million. The highest grant it received is $25 million which will scale up and maintain conservation efforts in the Andean Countries. Lastly, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, an institution dedicated to researching neuroscience, cancer, plant biology, and many other biological topics, received $30 million to enhance the carbon-storing capabilities of plant roots. Try out Devex Pro Funding today with a free five-day trial, and explore funding opportunities from over 850 sources in addition to our analysis and news content.