Jeff Bezos hired Andrew Steer of the World Resources Institute to help him spend a $10-billion commitment to fight climate change by 2030. Steer, also the World Bank’s former special envoy for climate change, will become the first president and chief executive officer of the Bezos Earth Fund, which started in February 2020. Bezos, the world’s richest man, promised “$10 billion to start” with to combat global warming. The fund made its first gifts, of $791 million, in November, primarily to traditional environmental charities.
In a Twitter thread, Steer said “Jeff’s goal is to spend it down between now and 2030.” “Andrew has decades of experience in environmental and climate science as well as economic and social policy in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Africa,” Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com Inc. said in an Instagram post. “Lauren and I are thrilled to have Andrew aboard and very energized about what lies ahead for the Fund and our partners,” he added, referring to his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez.
Bezos is worth $174 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
World Resources Institute, a research organization that Steer has led for eight years, received $100 million from the first round of Bezos’ gifts to develop a system to track carbon emissions, and to spur the electrification of U.S. school buses.