The Bezos Earth Fund pledged $2 billion, Monday, to help restore nature and transform food systems as part of its $10 billion commitment to fight climate change, improve nature, and advance environmental justice and economic opportunity.
This commitment adds to a $1 billion pledge for nature announced at Climate Week NYC in September to help create, expand, manage, and monitor protected and conserved areas. Together, this $3 billion allocated to nature will drive a new, three-fold agenda focused on nature conservation, landscape restoration, and food-systems transformation.
"Our commitment today supports a three-fold imperative – we must conserve what we have, restore what we've lost, and grow what we need in harmony with nature," said Jeff Bezos, in a statement. "Investing in nature through both traditional and innovative approaches is essential to combat climate change, enhance biodiversity, protect the beauty of the natural world, and create a prosperous future."
One billion dollars in funding will support landscape restoration, with an initial focus on Africa and the U.S. Restoration efforts in Africa will include planting trees on degraded landscapes, revitalizing grasslands, and integrating trees into farmland. This work will help drive climate benefits, food security, job creation, economic growth, soil fertility, and improved connectivity between protected areas to protect biodiversity. The Bezos Earth Fund will partner with Africa-owned partners, including AFR100, to deliver these benefits at scale. In the U.S., funding will be dedicated to the restoration of more than 20 landscapes that sequester high levels of carbon, protect biodiversity, and deliver community benefits. Forty percent of the funds allocated to U.S. nature efforts will directly engage or benefit underserved communities.
The other $1 billion will help transform food and agricultural systems to support life without degrading the planet. The Bezos Earth Fund will allocate funds to support a range of urgent imperatives, including raising crop yields while shrinking the agricultural footprint, sharply reducing food loss and waste, shifting diets towards plant-based sources, and making agricultural supply chains more sustainable.
"This commitment recognizes the urgency of the situation before us," said Christiana Figueres, former U.N. climate chief and founding partner of Global Optimism, in a statement. "For too long we have ignored the solutions that nature provides for us. Protection and restoration of our Earth is key to protecting and restoring our future. Key to our success will be reforming the way in which we produce and consume food, which is driving global warming, species loss, and inequality, rather than nourishing ourselves and our planet."
In line with the Bezos Earth Fund's $10 billion commitment timeline, the newly announced funds will be disbursed by 2030. In distributing grants, the Earth Fund will focus on regions and countries where needs and opportunities are greatest, and where commitments to conserving and restoring nature— while prioritizing local communities—are strongest.
Related: Target Sets New Sustainability Goals; Walmart Aims to Become Regenerative.