The Climate Pledge Fund is a division of
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...
, set up to develop and manage investments in the climate technology space, as part of its Climate Pledge initiative. It is a
corporate venture capital
Corporate venture capital (CVC) is the investment of corporate funds directly in external startup companies.Chesbrough, Henry''Making Sense of Corporate Venture Capital''. Harvard Business Review, 2002. CVC is defined by the Business Dictionary a ...
fund.
History
The Climate Pledge Fund makes investments into early-stage companies focused on decarbonizing or sustainable technologies and services. The fund is part of Amazon's Climate Pledge initiative with climate advocacy group Global Optimism. It was funded with an initial $2 billion in June 2020.
This corporate venture capital fund is distinct from the following sustainability-related organizations affiliated with Amazon:
* the $10 billion
Bezos Earth Fund, which provides philanthropic grants to environmental organizations globally
* the $100 million Right Now Climate Fund, which provides philanthropic contributions to local and regional non-governmental organizations in Europe
* the $1B corporate venture capital fund,
Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...
, which will invest in the industrial sector
People
As of December 2021, Matt Peterson, Director, Corporate New Initiatives, and Kara Hurst, Vice President and Head of Sustainability, lead the fund.
Notable Investments
2020 investments
*
Redwood Materials - process & technologies for recycling lithium-ion batteries and producing battery materials from recovered elements
*
Rivian
Rivian Automotive, Inc. is an American electric vehicle manufacturer and automotive technology company founded in 2009. Rivian is building an electric sport utility vehicle (SUV) and pickup truck on a "skateboard" platform that can support fut ...
- electric vehicle automaker
*
Turntide Technologies - optimal efficiency motor technologies for building controls (e.g. ventilation, lighting)
*
CarbonCure Technologies - Lower carbon concrete manufacturer
* Pachama - carbon offset verification technology
*
ZeroAvia - share-haul hydrogen-electric aircraft
2021 investments
*
BETA Technologies - Electric vertical aircraft manufacturer
*
ION Energy - smart battery management platform for automotive
*
CMC Machinery - design and manufacture of custom-sized boxes
*
Resilient Power - electric vehicle recharging infrastructure
* Infinium - Ultra low carbon fuels for global transport
*
Hippo Harvest - controlled environment agriculture
* Amogy - zero-emissions ammonia-based fuel for heavy-duty transportation, starting with marine shipping
2022 investments
* Ambient Photonics - high power density
solar cells
A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical and chemical phenomenon. for smart home devices and consumer electronics.
Other climate tech investors
* Microsoft's Climate Innovation Fund
*
Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Breakthrough Energy is the umbrella name of several organizations, founded by Bill Gates in 2015, that aim to accelerate innovation in sustainable energy and in other technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It invests in a variety of sta ...
* Elemental Excelerator's Earthshot Ventures Fund
* VertueLab's Climate Impact Fund
* Decarbon8-US
External links
Amazon's Sustainability WebsiteThe Climate Pledge's WebsiteSOSV Climate Tech Summit interview with Matt Peterson & Jason Thompson, CFO, Redwood Materials(video)
References
{{Amazon
Amazon (company)