Jeff Bezos' £8B Fund Cuts Funding to Climate Group As Amazon Secures £670K Military Contract In Britain

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' £8.06 billion Earth fund for climate and biodiversity has halted funding for the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), an international body that assesses whether companies are decarbonising in accordance with the Paris Climate Agreement.

This development came as US President Donald Trump exited the Paris Agreement, sharply contradicting Bezos' earlier climate commitments. The Earth Fund was reportedly among the largest funders of the SBTi.

The Bezos Earth Fund's £14.5 million grant to SBTi was extended in 2021 but expired in 2024 as planned. The funding has been crucial in enabling SBTi to grow into an independent climate change organisation.

The SBTi told Bloomberg it is now looking for new funding sources through a mix of donor funding and income from validation services.

The Earth Fund's decision follows several reports indicating that the Bezos fund and advisors to former US climate envoy John Kerry had supported a move allowing businesses to widely utilise carbon credits, which has triggered debate about their effectiveness.

At the New York Times' DealBook Summit last month, Bezos emphasised the urgent need to address environmental issues. Despite the Earth Fund's recent funding cut, the Bezos Foundation continues to support initiatives such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the World Resources Institute.

Amazon Closes Deal With Britain's Ministry of Defence

Bezos secured a military contract in Britain as Amazon increasingly forges and strengthens ties with defence organisations.

Amazon's satellite venture, Project Kuiper, secured a £670,000 consultancy deal with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to lead a study on advanced space-based communications systems. The project was later presented to UK Space Command.

The Kuiper deal involves exploring the use of "translator" satellites for British military personnel to build a communications layer between military, government, and private satellites, as existing satellites are generally limited to transmitting signals to spacecraft in the same network.

According to an industry source, Amazon Kuiper execs have been "rattling the door" of the British defence establishment as it gears up to launch a network of communications satellites in the next few years.

Meanwhile, Britain has been planning to develop its new-age military satellites, including the £5 billion Skynet 6 programme, featuring Airbus and Lockheed Martin as final bidders. The government is also mulling a £1 billion intelligence-gathering satellite network.

Amazon has already secured billions of pounds of UK government deals for its AWS business segments. Furthermore, UK telecom regulator Ofcom recently approved Amazon's licence to provide satellite-based broadband service in Britain, which will directly compete with Elon Musk's Starlink project.