Top Posts
German court dismisses climate case against RWE
WHO Climate Change action plan approved
Report: World likely to breach 1.5°C limit in...
At Bonn climate talks, Brazil demands early deals...
Researchers warn Africa could face 113 million climate...
LAPO MfB launches tree-planting initiative to fight climate...
Stiell says new NDCs are about growth, antidote...
EU trains 5,000 Imo farmers to combat climate...
Jigawa holds first summit on agriculture, climate change
NEST, experts demand subnational action to address climate...
EcoNai Newsroom
  • Newsround
  • Nigeria
  • Africa
  • World
Uncategorized

Bezos ends support for climate group amid fears billionaires ‘bowing down’ to Trump

by admineconai February 8, 2025
written by admineconai February 8, 2025
277

Latest reports show that business man, Jeff Bezos’s $10bn climate and biodiversity fund has halted its funding of one of the world’s most important climate certification organisations, amid broader concerns US billionaires are “bowing down to Trump” and his anti-climate action rhetoric.

The Bezos Earth Fund has stopped its support for the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), an international body that assesses if companies are decarbonising in line with the Paris agreement. Earth Fund had been one of two core funders of the SBTi, with the Ikea Foundation: the two accounted for 61% of its total funding last year. Earth Fund’s decision was first reported by the FT.

Spokespeople for Earth Fund and SBTi said the $18m (£14.5m) grant had been a three-year commitment that expired as previously agreed, and Earth Fund had not made a final decision on future support. But researchers familiar with the SBTi, as well as advisers at the organisation, raised concerns that the vanishing support was part of a broader trend of wealthy individuals moving away from funding causes that the US president – who has previously called climate change a hoax – did not agree with.

Prof Doreen Stabinsky, who is on the technical council of SBTi, said: “You look at Bezos and the folks he’s hanging out with in the billionaires club, and you realise this is about more than SBTi,” she said. “Bezos is bowing down to Trump in a way a bunch of billionaires are bowing down to Trump.”

Read also: Green campaigners fear UK to renew subsidies to Drax power station

Stabinsky said Bezos’s decision was “not surprising at all” given he previously stopped the editorial board of the Washington Post – which he owns – taking an endorsement position on presidential candidates.

It came as scientists described their “stress and fear” at Donald Trump’s executive orders to cut federal grant money. Mentions of the climate crisis have also been removed or downgraded across US government websites. Stabinsky said: “Climate for Trump is just one of those things that is very visible, very on his radar, very part of his messaging – anti-climate action, anti any corporate that is doing something that is visibly about climate change.”

Before Trump’s inauguration last month, the US’s six biggest banks quit the global banking industry’s net zero target-setting group. Kelly Stone, a senior policy analyst at ActionAid USA, said the move to no longer fund SBTi was “really disappointing, but not especially surprising at this point”, describing it as “part of a corporate wave” of abandoning green ambitions. She said: “We’re seeing a huge retreat from a lot of these climate pledges from the biggest corporate and financial actors.”

Story was adapted from the Guardian.

0 comment 0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
admineconai

previous post
Green campaigners fear UK to renew subsidies to Drax power station
next post
AI’s global impact takes centre stage at Paris summit

Related Posts

Study shows mountain plants won’t adapt fast enough...

May 6, 2025

UN deputy chief: Partnerships, increased climate investment crucial...

April 18, 2025

Military government says death toll from Myanmar earthquake...

April 1, 2025

Greenland ice sheet cracking more rapidly than ever,...

February 4, 2025

Reeves indicates support for third runway at Heathrow

January 27, 2025

Report: Tackling global biodiversity, climate change crises may...

January 20, 2025

Violent attacks against environmental journalists on the rise,...

May 4, 2024

Flood claims 20 lives in Brazil

March 25, 2024

Colombia vows to prioritise nature at global environmental...

February 23, 2024

Stakeholders move to address Nigeria’s vulnerability to climate...

February 5, 2024

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Newsletter

Subscribe my Newsletter for new blog posts, tips & new photos. Let's stay updated!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin
  • Bloglovin
  • Vimeo

@2021 - All Right Reserved. Designed and Developed by Eco-Nai+

EcoNai Newsroom
  • Newsround
  • Nigeria
  • Africa
  • World