The Bezos Earth Fund—a Jeff Bezos-backed philanthropic initiative fighting climate change—announced Tuesday it was investing $60 million to create centers that will focus on targeting challenges in biomanufacturing and “invent(ing) our way out of climate change,” according to the Fund’s vice chair and Bezos’ fiancee, Lauren Sanchez.
The Bezos Earth Fund is investing $60 million to address “major technological barriers to reducing ... [+]
The Bezos Centers for Sustainable Protein will attempt to advance science and technology to address “major technological barriers to reducing cost, increasing quality, and boosting nutritional benefit of alternative proteins,” according to the Fund’s press release.
The centers will be tied to universities and will be set up over the next five years, director of Future of Food Andy Jarvis, told Bloomberg.
The $60 million is part of the Bezos Earth Fund’s $1 billion commitment to transforming food and agriculture systems in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The news of the Bezos Earth Fund’s investment in improving quality of alternative proteins comes just one week after Oscar Mayer announced it was partnering with NotCo, Inc.—another organization backed by the Amazon founder—to release the first plant-based Oscar Mayer offerings, NotHotDogs and NotSausages.
Forbes estimates Bezos to be worth about $193.7 billion as of Tuesday afternoon, making him the third-wealthiest person in the world.
In 2020, Bezos—who made most of his money through founding and now chairing Amazon—pledged to spend $10 billion through the Earth Fund over a decade to fight the impact of climate change. That same year, he announced the Earth Fund had given $791 million to 16 organizations working to combat climate change, including $100 million to the World Wildlife Fund and $100 million to the Environmental Defense Fund, though Forbes reported the Earth Fund announced just $400 million in grants in 2021 and almost $300 million in grants in 2022. Recently, the Bezos Earth Fund announced a $5 million grant to the Jane Goodall Institute to expand conservation efforts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo.