Amazon creating $2B internal venture capital fund focused on green tech

Amazon is launching a $2 billion internal venture capital fund focused on reducing the impact of climate change. 

The Climate Pledge, announced by the company Tuesday, will be used to invest in several industries, including transportation, energy generation, battery storage, manufacturing and food and agriculture. 

“The Climate Pledge Fund will look to invest in the visionary entrepreneurs and innovators who are building products and services to help companies reduce their carbon impact and operate more sustainably,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement. 

Global venture capital and private-equity investments in clean energy reached $10.5 billion in 2019, up 6 percent from the previous year and the highest since 2010, according to a report from BloombergNEF.

The fund seeks to work toward the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement 10 years early and to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040.

Initiated in 2016, 195 countries committed to the Paris Climate Agreement, a nonbinding pact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The U.S. pulled out of the agreement in 2017 and is now the only nation on Earth that is not included in it.

It’s unclear when the investments will roll out, which they described as “initial funding” that could grow over time.

The move comes after the trillion-dollar company has faced increased scrutiny for not doing enough to combat issues including climate change and world hunger. 

Earlier this year, Bezos committed $10 billion of his personal wealth to the Bezos Earth Fund, which he said would start issuing grants in the summer and that the fund would back scientists, activists and efforts “to help preserve and protect the natural world.”