The chief executive of Amazon and the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, announced on Instagram that he would be pledging $10 billion to fight climate change.
The 56 year old, who is worth nearly $130 billion announced on Monday that he would be launching the Bezos Earth Fund.
Jeff Bezos wrote in the caption: “Climate change is the biggest threat to our 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 on the planet we all share”.
Bezos ended his post on Instagram by saying that he plans to “begin issuing grants this summer.”
This comes directly after Amazon telling its employees they could be fired for trying to publicly pressure them to more urgently address climate change.
The group, Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, said last month that its leaders had been threatened and questioned by Amazon’s human resources department about comments they made to the press last year.
The group claimed that the online retail giant’s threats of job termination were a form of “targeting” meant to stop employees from continuing to speak out.
Bezos pledge of billions to the cause of fighting climate change is vastly different to his previous behaviour.
Bezos is one of the few U.S. billionaires that has not signed the Giving Pledge.
The Giving Pledge is a campaign that was founded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to encourage the extremely wealthy to contribute a majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.
Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife, MacKenzie Bezos, signed the pledge last year.
