Jeff Bezos pledges $10bn to fund fight against climate change

Jeff Bezos has committed to donating $10.0bn to fund the fight against climate change after employees from Amazon urged him to address the issue.

The chief executive officer of the tech giant announced late on Monday that he would fund activists, scientists and organisations working towards reducing the effects of climate change.

The initiative is called the Bezos Earth Fund and will begin giving out grants this summer.

The $10bn commitment is less than 8% of the world's richest man's estimated $130bn net worth.

"Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet," Bezos said in the post. "I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change.

"It's going to take collective action from big companies, small companies, nation states, global organizations, and individuals," Bezos said.

The pledge comes after thousands of Amazon employees signed a letter last May asking for a response to climate change.

Amazon has set a target for going carbon neutral by 2040 and is planning to deploy 100,000 electric delivery vans by 2024.

Bezos is already an investor in Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a fund that focuses on the development of technologies that can reduce the use of fossil fuels and carbon emissions in industries to fight the climate crisis.