Bezos Earth Fund: first grants and SBTi funding
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
In November 2020 the Bezos Earth Fund made a first round of grants of $791 million to 16 organisations, $100 million each to five of them. It was also a core funder of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which validates company climate targets.
$100m each to The Nature Conservancy, NRDC, EDF, WRI and WWF. Figure as reported by Quartz.
Status As of September 2026: the fund reported about $2.4bn given of a $10bn commitment; its SBTi grant ended in December 2024.
What happened
In November 2020 the Bezos Earth Fund made its first round of grants: $791 million to 16 organisations. The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the World Resources Institute (WRI) and WWF received $100 million each. The fund is financed from the wealth of Jeff Bezos, whose fortune comes from Amazon, and has been described in the record as a $10 billion commitment.
By September 2026, Fortune reported, about $2.4 billion had been given and $7.6 billion remained. Grants fell to $183 million in 2025 and were reported to be at least $400 million in 2026. The fund's foundation was recognised in January 2024 as a private foundation with 501(c)(3) status. Its 2024 tax return, as reported by ProPublica and InfluenceWatch, showed $24.5 million in expenses, $223,491 in assets and pay of $817,660 to its chief executive, Andrew Steer. Most of the roughly $2.4 billion in grants announced does not appear on that return. InfluenceWatch reported that more than 99% of the foundation's spending went as consulting fees to a separate company, Bezos Earth Fund LLC.
The fund was one of two core funders of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a UK-based body that validates whether company climate targets are consistent with the Paris Agreement. In 2021 the Bezos Earth Fund and the IKEA Foundation each gave $18 million, and ESG Today reported SBTi grants of $37 million in total. In 2023 core grants made up 45% of SBTi's income, according to REDD-Monitor. In 2024 core grants were 72.8% of income, fees paid by companies to SBTi Services Limited 24.6% and project grants 2.6%. SBTi has said that income from companies has no effect on its target decisions.
On 9 April 2024 the SBTi board issued a statement opening the way to the use of environmental attribute certificates, including carbon credits, for supply-chain (scope 3) emissions. It had not consulted staff or the Technical Council. Twenty-one advisers asked for the statement to be withdrawn, staff asked for the chief executive's removal, and the chief executive, Luiz Amaral, stepped down in July 2024. REDD-Monitor, citing the Financial Times and Bloomberg, reported that the Bezos Earth Fund had convened the SBTi board and donors in London in March 2024 to argue for the use of credits and had influenced the decision. The fund denies this. The fund's $18 million grant ended in December 2024 and was not renewed; the fund said it ended as planned, and critics linked its end to the political climate in Washington.
- 2020November: first round of grants, $791m to 16 organisations; five receive $100m each
- 2021Bezos Earth Fund and IKEA Foundation each give $18m to SBTi
- 2023August: Amazon's SBTi commitment removed after it did not submit targets in time; September: Francesco Starace becomes SBTi board chair
- 2024January: fund's foundation recognised as a 501(c)(3) private foundation; March: London meeting on carbon-credit use reported; 9 April: SBTi board statement on scope 3 credits; July: SBTi chief executive steps down; December: fund's $18m SBTi grant ends
- 2026September: Fortune reports about $2.4bn given and $7.6bn remaining
What was said
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
Reported that the fund convened the board and donors in London in March 2024, argued for carbon credits and influenced the decision. The claim rests on unnamed sources.
REDD-MonitorDenies a link between the meeting and the statement.
National ObserverSaid three days after the board statement that the standard had not changed.
Said the grant ended as planned.
Linked the end of the grant to the political climate in Washington.
Said the decision was not science-based.
Issued the statement opening the way to certificates for scope 3 emissions without consulting staff or the Technical Council.
How it looked
Shown
- SBTi presents its approval as science-based and states that income from companies has no effect on target decisions.SBTi (How we are funded) · SBTi
Recorded
- First round, November 2020: $791m to 16 organisations; TNC, NRDC, EDF, WRI and WWF received $100m each.
- About $2.4bn given and $7.6bn remaining by September 2026; grants $183m in 2025 and at least $400m in 2026.
- 2024 tax return: $24.5m expenses, $223,491 assets, $817,660 pay to the chief executive; most of the announced grants do not appear on the return.
- SBTi income 2024: 72.8% core grants, 24.6% company approval fees, 2.6% project grants.
- In 2021 the Bezos Earth Fund and the IKEA Foundation each gave SBTi $18m; the fund's grant ended in December 2024.
Who gained
Reached nature or the ground
Gained elsewhere
Responses on record
- bezos-earth-fund (2024): Denies a link between its March 2024 London meeting and the SBTi board's April 2024 statement. · National Observer
- bezos-earth-fund (December 2024): Said the SBTi grant ended as planned.
- sbti (2024): Said income from companies has no effect on target decisions; three days after the April 2024 board statement it added that the standard had not changed. · SBTi
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Accounts
Record
- None on record Most of the roughly $2.4 billion in grants announced does not appear on the foundation's 2024 tax return.
- Unclear Whether the fund influenced the SBTi board's April 2024 statement: the claim comes from secondary reports citing unnamed sources, and the fund denies it.
- Insufficient Criticism that the first round gave most of its money to the five largest, already visible, organisations is reported at search-summary level and was not independently verified.
- Unclear Whether the SBTi board statement of April 2024 led to a final rule on carbon-credit use: SBTi added three days later that the standard was unchanged, and no final rule was confirmed.
Did the harm stop?
The fund's $18 million SBTi grant ended in December 2024.
Who paid?
The record does not identify a party that bore a cost; the sources describe donations from the fund and the IKEA Foundation to SBTi.
Sources
Press and investigations
- Bezos Earth Fund makes him the biggest climate activist backerQuartz · 2020-11-16
- Bezos Earth Fund commitment (Fortune, 30 September 2026)Fortune · 2026-09-30
- Bezos Earth Fund climate change charity (via The Guardian)National Observer · 2024-05-24
- SBTi awarded $37 million in grants to accelerate 1.5C strategyESG Today · 2021
- Net-zero carbon emissions, SBTi, Amazon, Microsoft, WalmartThe Invading Sea · 2024-11-27
Communities and civil society
- Bezos Earth Fund (profile)InfluenceWatch ·
- Science Based Targets initiative (citing the Financial Times and Bloomberg)REDD-Monitor · 2024
Standard-setters and registries
- Bezos Earth Fund, Form 990-PFProPublica Nonprofit Explorer · 2024
- How we are fundedSBTi · 2024
- Luiz Amaral to step down as CEO of Science Based Targets initiativeSBTi · 2024-07-02
Connected cases
- SBTi funding, Scope 3 EAC announcement and CEO exit United Kingdom · 2021–2024 Related matter
- Bezos Earth Fund (NGO) — here: Funder: first-round grants and core SBTi grant; there: Donor to SBTi; convened board and donors in March 2024
- Science Based Targets initiative (Standard-setter) — here: Standard-setter for company climate targets; grant recipient; there: Standard-setter validating company climate targets
- Bloomberg, Steyer and Bezos money shapes coal and nature campaigns United States · 2008–2026
- Bezos Earth Fund (NGO) — here: Funder: first-round grants and core SBTi grant; there: Funder whose first grants went to five large environmental groups
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Environmental group that received Bezos Earth Fund money
- Bahamas debt-for-nature swap Bahamas · 2024
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Conservation organisation involved in the transaction
- Barbados debt-for-nature swap Barbados · 2022
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Guarantor (US$50m)
- Belize blue bond Belize · 2021–2041
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Lender (via subsidiary)
- Biomas restoration initiative Brazil · 2022
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Nature NGO; director Sérgio Rial was chairman of Santander Brasil when it co-founded Biomas
- Bolivian carbon scheme claimed 55 million tonnes; review found at most 5.8 million Bolivia · 1997–2010
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: conservation group; set up the scheme with BP
- BP Deepwater Horizon: the spill, the court cases and the recovery claims United States · 2010–2031
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Recipient of BP funding
- Colombia's Operation Artemisa: 113 arrests and 13 convictions Colombia · 2017–2022
- Science Based Targets initiative (Standard-setter) — here: Standard-setter for company climate targets; grant recipient; there: Board on which Duque sits
- Coral reef parametric insurance, Quintana Roo Mexico · 2018–2026
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Co-designer of the cover; author of the July 2026 case study
- El Salvador debt-for-nature swap El Salvador · 2024–2025
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Not named for this transaction; a JPMorgan executive sits on its board
- Gabon debt-for-nature swap Gabon · 2023
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Sponsor of the project
- Half-Earth and 30x30 advocacy funding (Wyss Campaign for Nature) Global · 2016–2026
- World Resources Institute (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Commented on the Kunming-Montreal agreement
- Kenyan water-tower forest evictions followed a 2018 killing by forest guards Kenya · 2016–2024
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: reported water fund operator
- Mosaic settles US hazardous-waste case over phosphogypsum handling United States · 2015
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Conservation organisation listing Mosaic as a corporate partner
- Nature Conservancy began $10 million partnership with Dow Chemical in 2011 United States · 2007–2021
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: conservation group; cooperation partner
- Nature Conservancy gas drilling on Texas City Prairie Preserve United States · 1995–2014
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Landowner and driller
- Palau National Marine Sanctuary Palau · 2015
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Donor group member; former employer of the Agriculture Minister; Micronesia director named in the bill
- Pará state pre-sold 12 million REDD+ credits; federal prosecutors sue to cancel Brazil · 2023–2026
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Named by the MPF as having a conflict of interest
- Sembrando Vida (Sowing Life) Mexico · 2019–2022
- World Resources Institute (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Estimated first-year forest cover loss (WRI Mexico)
- Sengwer evictions from Embobut forest and the EU Water Towers programme (Kenya) Kenya · 2014–2024
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Water fund overlapping Embobut
- Seychelles 2016 debt-for-nature swap listed among TNC Nature Bonds Seychelles · 2016
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Runs the Nature Bonds programme that lists the Seychelles pilot
- TNC chief scientist urged conservation groups to partner with companies United States · 2011–2015
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Employer of Kareiva; Dow Chemical partner; subject of the essay
- TNC Hawaii coral reef parametric insurance United States · 2022–2026
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Policyholder
- Tropical Forest Forever Facility Brazil · 2025
- World Resources Institute (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Published the description of the fund's payment structure
- US Senate probes Nature Conservancy land sales to its own trustees United States · 2003
- The Nature Conservancy (NGO) — here: Recipient of $100m (first round); there: Organisation whose land sales were the subject of the inquiry