Jeff Bezos spends $ 1 billion of his climate fund on conservation as Amazon destroys the world

Jeff Bezos is donating $ 1 billion of his $ 10 billion climate philanthropy pledge to protect biodiversity and carbon-efficient forests in the Andes, Congo Basin and the tropical Pacific Ocean. After nearly three decades at the helm of Amazon, which has a vast and growing carbon footprint, Bezos appears determined to forge a new identity as an environmentalist and perhaps the world’s most generous financier in the fight against climate change. And that expensive trip to space he just took? Bezos says it was informative.

“Nature is our survival system and it is fragile,” the billionaire said at a press conference on Monday. “I was reminded of this last July when I went to space with Blue Origin. I had heard that seeing Earth from space changed our perspective on the world, but I was not prepared for this to be true.

While the fundraising effort is certainly notable, Bezos’ commitment to protecting the environment is a stark reminder that much of his legacy and largely untaxed fortune was built by companies that have a staggering carbon footprint. Amazon’s carbon emissions have increased every year since 2018, and last year alone, when global carbon emissions fell by around 7%, Amazon’s carbon emissions increased 19% to 60. , 64 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. This is roughly the equivalent of burning 140 million barrels of oil.

Amazon has decided to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, for example by committing to electrify its delivery vehicles, and has recruited dozens of companies to sign its Climate Pledge, a corporate pledge to achieve net zero emissions of by 2040. But for now, Amazon remains dependent on massive fleets of polluting delivery vehicles, unnecessary packaging, and even a new fleet of jet fuel-powered planes to keep delivering products to online shoppers quickly. impatient.

Meanwhile, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is using massive amounts of power to keep its servers online. In 2019, Greenpeace accused the cloud computing company of abandoning its commitment to use 100% renewable energy and said some of the largest AWS data centers only use 12% renewable energy. And even though other companies, like Google, have moved away from offering cloud services to fossil fuel companies, AWS still lists Shell, Hess, and BP as customers.

Bezos is technically no longer part of Amazon. But Blue Origin, the private spaceflight company he owns and which recently took him to space, has raised environmental concerns. While the space rocket company has used carbon-free fuels – a combination of liquid hydrogen and oxygen – these fuels are still costly to the environment, and environmentalists warn Blue Origin rockets still leave particles behind. that can damage the atmosphere.

So, from a certain perspective, Bezos’ environmental philanthropy looks a bit like an effort to clean up a mess his companies helped make.