World’s Richest Man Pledges $10 Billion to Fight Climate Change. Is that Good?

Well, it’s certainly not bad. And yet…

Let’s be clear that $10 billion is serious money. And the climate fight can use all the help it can get. But before getting too excited, there are some open issues:

Questions

1. What’s the time frame? Is the $10 billion fund established right away or over time? Will grants go out at the 5% per year minimum required by law of foundations, or go faster? ($500 million per year is not bad, but not $10 billion, and time is short.)
2. Who decides where the grants go? Does Bezos have a mix of people with serious chops in science, advocacy, business, and so on? Some transparency on this would be great.
3. What will the money focus on? Bezos posted that he wants “to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change” and he will fund “scientists, activists, NGOs — any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world.” (btw, can we pause and marvel at how $10 billion was pledged via Instagram, a platform more often used to announce things like, “Kim Kardashian has a new fragrance!”.)

This last question is critical, and I have my opinions about priorities. A few weeks ago, I wrote a big article in Harvard Business Review about next generation corporate climate strategy. In short, I think the top focus should be systematic change via political…