Bezos pledges $10 billion to climate fight

NEW YORK — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said Monday that he plans to spend $10 billion of his own fortune to help fight climate change.

Bezos, the world’s richest man, said in an Instagram post that he’ll start giving grants this summer to scientists, activists and nonprofits working to protect the 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,” Bezos said in the post.

Bezos, who founded Amazon 25 years ago, has a stake in the company that is worth more than $100 billion.

Amazon has an enormous carbon footprint. Last year, Amazon officials said the company would work to get 100% of its energy from solar panels and other renewable sources by 2030.

The online retailer relies on fossil fuels to power planes, trucks and vans to ship billions of items around the world. Amazon workers in its Seattle headquarters have been vocal in criticizing some of the company’s practices, pushing it to do more to combat climate change.

In his Monday post, Bezos said he will call his initiative the Bezos Earth Fund. An Amazon spokesman confirmed that Bezos will be using his own money for the fund.

Bezos only recently became active in donating money to causes as other billionaires such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have done. In 2018, Bezos started another fund, committing $2 billion to open preschools in low-income neighborhoods and give money to nonprofits that help homeless families.