Environmental Defense Fund to Receive Bezos Earth Fund Grant

$100M gift will support critical efforts to curb climate pollution

November 16, 2020
Contact: Eric Pooley, 212-616-1329, epooley@edf.org

(New York, NY – November 16, 2020) Environmental Defense Fund today announced a $100 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund. The grant will support critical work that includes completion and launch of MethaneSAT, a satellite that will not only locate and measure sources of methane pollution around the world, but also provide public access to data that ensures accountability and drives deep reductions of this pollutant. The grant will also be used to build confidence in carbon credits by improving scientific understanding of the storage and removal of carbon using nature-based processes in forests, agricultural soils, and oceans.

“EDF is heartened and inspired by the scale of the Bezos Earth Fund’s commitment to tackling this existential challenge,” said EDF President Fred Krupp. “We are honored to be included in the first round of funding, which will accelerate climate progress. As people experience more damaging wildfires, air pollution, stronger hurricanes, and deadlier droughts and heat waves, a window of opportunity for action is opening in the U.S. and around the world. We thank the Bezos Earth Fund for the trust placed in us. The Bezos Earth Fund gifts provide vital momentum to EDF and many others at a time when awareness must be turned into dramatic action.”

“As a non-profit, EDF is funded by member donations and private philanthropic support,” added Carl Ferenbach, Chair of the EDF Board of Trustees. “We are grateful to the Bezos Earth Fund as we are to all of our members and donors for enabling us to pursue our mission. Their generosity makes our work possible.”

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One of the world’s leading international nonprofit organizations, Environmental Defense Fund (edf.org) creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems. To do so, EDF links science, economics, law, and innovative private-sector partnerships. With more than 2.5 million members and offices in the United States, China, Mexico and the European Union, EDF’s scientists, economists, attorneys and policy experts are working in 23 countries and across the E.U. to turn our solutions into action. Connect with us on Twitter @EnvDefenseFund.