Jeff Bezos’ Earth Fund Pulls Support from Key Nonprofit Tracking Corporate Climate Actions

Jeff Bezos’s $10 billion climate and biodiversity fund has recently paused its support for one of the world’s climate certification organisations. This move has sparked broader discussions about the potential influence of political dynamics, including concerns that some US billionaires may be aligning with Trumps administration narratives that are less supportive of climate action.
The Bezos Earth Fund has withdrawn its support for the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a global organization that evaluates whether companies are reducing their carbon emissions in alignment with the Paris Agreement. Previously, the Earth Fund was one of the two main funders of SBTi, alongside the Ikea Foundation.
Representatives from Earth Fund and SBTi stated that the $18 million grant was part of a three-year commitment that had expired as planned, and that Earth Fund had yet to make a decision regarding future support. However, researchers familiar with SBTi, along with advisers at the organisation, expressed concerns that the reduction in funding was part of a wider pattern of wealthy individuals withdrawing their support for causes that the U.S. president—who has previously branded climate change as a hoax—does not endorse.
Professor Doreen Stabinsky, a member of the technical council of SBTi, remarked: “You look at Bezos and the folks he’s hanging out with in the billionaires club, and you realize 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.” These comments are questionable, and one could also contend that the billionaires may have simply reassessed their priorities by distancing themselves from unsubstantiated ideologies. Stabinsky added that  Bezos’s decision was “not surprising at all”.
Stabinsky pointed out, “Climate for Trump is one of those issues that is highly visible, consistently on his radar, and a key part of his messaging—opposing climate action and any corporation engaged in initiatives visibly related to climate change.”
In the lead-up to Trump’s inauguration last month, the six largest US banks pulled out of the global banking sector’s net-zero target-setting group. Kelly Stone, a senior policy analyst at ActionAid USA, described the move to stop funding SBTi as “disappointing,” though not “especially surprising at this point.” She framed it as “part of a broader trend” where corporations are scaling back their climate commitments, observing, “We are witnessing a significant retreat from climate pledges among many major corporate and financial players.”
A spokesperson from the Bezos Earth Fund clarified: “In 2021, the Bezos Earth Fund made a three-year grant to SBTi for capacity building, which ended in December 2024 as originally agreed. There has been no change in the relationship between the Earth Fund and SBTi. SBTi has not requested additional funding from the Earth Fund. As a result, the Earth Fund has made no decision with regard to further funding.”
We are witnessing the unfolding of a prophecy declared by our dear Man of God, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, who stated that organisations and individuals promoting false or misguided ideologies would be “lightly esteemed.” It is evident that those in positions of wealth and influence, including billionaires, are now stepping back to reassess their support. The Trump administration has empowered them to choose what they know is right but were once afraid to choose. This shift signals a broader realisation that supporting well-informed and responsible ideas is vital, as no one with a clear understanding of the truth would continue to fund or endorse misleading or unfounded ideologies.