The Climate Pledge was co-founding by Jeff Bezos at the National Press Club.
The images are for Amazon.
The billionaire has given $433 million to organizations focused on climate change.
The Bezos Earth Fund was launched last year by Bezos with a $10 billion commitment over 10 years to address climate change. The fund says it has distributed over a billion dollars to nonprofits, NGOs and researchers.
The grants went to 44 organizations, with most of the money going to protect forests and other environments in the Tropical Andes and the Congo Basin. More than 100 million dollars went to organizations focused on climate justice for disadvantaged communities in America and another 51 million dollars went to land restoration in the US and Africa. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation got $30 million, the Wildlife Conservancy got 40 million, and the GRID Alternatives Tribal Solar Accelerator Fund got $12 million.
Since he stepped down as CEO of Amazon earlier this year, Bezos has been giving a lot. Bezos gave $100 million to former president Barack Obama's foundation and another $96 million to organizations helping homeless families. After briefly journeying into space in late July, Bezos pledged $100 million each to chef José Andrés and political commentator Van Jones, for them to donate as they see fit; he also promised another $200 million to the National Air and Space Museum.
Bezos has used both cash and Amazon shares before. The Obama Foundation gave cash while one homelessness nonprofit received a donation in the form of Amazon shares. Bezos gave 72,137 shares worth $253 million to nonprofits last week. An Amazon spokesman wouldn't say if Bezos used cash or donations of Amazon shares to fund his $10 billion commitment, or if those shares went toward the Bezos Earth Fund. It is possible that Bezos could have transferred some of his Amazon shares to a donor-advised fund, which would have made gifts of cash to various nonprofits. The Bezos Family Foundation was started 18 years ago by Bezos' parents.
Forbes estimates that Bezos has given away less than 1% of his fortune. The Giving Pledge is a commitment to donate the majority of one's wealth to charity.
The billionaire has stepped up his philanthropy in recent months, but his climate donations have faced backlash from activists. In an interview last month, Bezos said he is spending more money on the Bezos Earth Fund than on his commercial space company Blue Origin in response to criticism that he is pouring money into space travel instead of meaningfully tackling problems on Earth.
Amazon has pledged to make its business carbon neutral by the year 2040, but it has come under scrutiny. The Bezos Earth Fund has been the subject of major concerns by employees of Amazon and other groups because of the cloud computing services it provides to oil and gas companies. The energy sector should have access to the same technologies as other industries, according to Amazon, which wants to help them accelerate development of renewable energy businesses.
