Amazon launches $2-bln clean energy fund

Amazon has set up an investment fund worth $2 billion to focus exclusively on clean energy projects.

Business Insider reported:

Amazon is injecting $2 billion into a new venture capital fund focused on a carbon-free future, the e-commerce giant said Tuesday, while accelerating its timeline for being powered completely by renewable energy.

The project “will invest in visionary companies whose product and service solutions will facilitate the transition to a low carbon economy,” Amazon said, without providing a timeline for the first deals.

Ann Smajstrla from Engadget wrote:

The Climate Pledge Fund will invest in companies of all sizes and in multiple industries, including “transportation and logistics; energy generation, storage, and utilization; manufacturing and materials; circular economy; and food and agriculture,” Amazon said in a statement. Amazon hasn’t provided a timeline for selecting beneficiaries or distributing funds.

Amazon’s changes come after more than 3,500 Amazon employees posted an open letter to Jeff Bezos and other company executives last spring calling for a company-wide climate change plan. Among the workers’ demands were a complete end to the use of fossil fuels and that Amazon Web Services end its Oil and Gas initiative.

Jonathan Shieber from TechCrunch noted:

The commitments from Bezos did little to blunt criticism of the company he leads — especially after the company terminated eight employees for allegedly speaking out over the company’s climate record. In a statement issued during the company’s May shareholder meeting, a representative of the organization Amazon Employees for Climate Justice criticized the company for “environmental racism.”

In its statement, the group called for Amazon to commit to zero emissions by 2030 while investing first in the communities that the organization said were most impacted by Amazon’s operations.