Amazon is creating a $ 2 billion venture fund that will involve companies working on climate-friendly technologies in transportation, warehousing, food, power generation, waste and more, the tech giant said Tuesday.
Because it is important: The new fund will help Amazon and other companies deliver on the “climate promise” Amazon announced last year to achieve zero net emissions by 2040.
- Verizon, Infosys and consumer goods heavyweight Reckitt Benckiser joined the pledge last week, and Amazon said this morning it will seek to engage pledge signers in the risk effort.
How does it work: “Businesses around the world of all sizes and stages will be considered, from pre-product startups to well-established companies,” Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement.
Whats Next: Amazon opened the initial application process this morning, setting up a page to accept “directions of interest.” But, as the Wall Street Journal points out, Amazon did not provide a timeline to distribute what it called the initial “$ 2 billion”.
The panorama: It is part of a growing movement by technology giants to finance climate-friendly companies and technologies, even as they continue to be criticized for their dealings with oil companies.
Retrospective scene: Microsoft, when launching its January pledge to become “carbon negative” by 2030, said it was creating a $ 1 billion fund to “accelerate the global development of carbon reduction, capture and removal technologies.”
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