Bezos’ climate fund faces a reckoning with Amazon’s pollution
People living with Amazon’s pollution see gaps in Bezos’ funding
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Once he steps down as CEO of Amazon later this year, Jeff Bezos will have more time to focus on his “passions,” including his $10 billion Earth Fund aimed at addressing climate change. That’s a huge sum that could have an outsized impact on climate action, but vulnerable communities — including those affected by Amazon’s warehouses — say they’ve been excluded.
So far, Bezos has only allocated $791 million — just under 8 percent of the total fund — to 16 environmental organizations. That injection of cash is still enormous. His grants, announced in November, have already fattened the budgets of some mainstream advocacy groups, such as the Environmental Defense Fund. The majority of his grants went to larger organizations with less diverse leadership. Smaller, grassroots groups representing communities of color say they’ve been left out. They’re asking for recognition and funding. And they want Bezos to do more for communities living with pollution from Amazon’s warehouses.