The Earth Fund—a $10 billion initiative founded by Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos—has discontinued its support for the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a major verifier of corporate climate goals that influences how companies like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and H&M attain a “net zero” label.
What Happened: The Earth Fund’s decision to withdraw support for the SBTi follows staff concerns about its influence and is viewed as Bezos’ response to policies endorsed by President Donald Trump, who recently directed the U.S. to exit the Paris Agreement on climate action, reported The Financial Times.
The Earth Fund and the IKEA Foundation are the two primary funders of the SBTi. The SBTi has faced criticism, including from its own staff, for last year’s decision to relax rules on how companies can use carbon credits to reduce their reported supply-chain emissions.
Some employees have speculated whether the meetings held by the Earth Fund in London in the weeks leading up to this decision may have had an influence.
Why It Matters: The current move comes as a sharp contrast to Bezos’ previous commitment toward the climate initiative. In January, he also emphasized the urgent need to address environmental issues at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit. Despite the Earth Fund withdrawal, the Bezos Foundation continues to back the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the World Resources Institute.
The decision to stop backing SBTi is widely seen as a move by the Amazon founder to avoid conflicts with President Trump and strengthen ties. This move could also be directed by the billionaire to alleviate antitrust pressure on his business.
In April 2023, Bezos’s e-commerce giant was embroiled in a lawsuit with The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which alleged that Amazon developed a secret pricing algorithm called “Project Nessie,” which could have led to over $1 billion in extra profits. The company secured partial victory on the case in September, though.
However, the Bezos Foundation continues to back the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the World Resources Institute.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
