Climate Pledge Fund
{{Short description|Amazon's climate technology venture capital fund}}
{{Notability|1=Companies|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Climate Pledge Fund
| type = Public
| industry = Venture Capital
| foundation = 2020
| founder = Amazon
| location = Seattle, Washington, U.S.
| products = Corporate venture capital
| assets = $2 billion
| num_employees = 10+
}}
The Climate Pledge Fund is a division of Amazon, 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 fund.
History
The Climate Pledge Fund was founded in June 2020 to make investments into early-stage companies focused on decarbonizing or sustainable technologies and services.{{Cn|date=May 2025}} As of December 2021, Matt Peterson, director, corporate new initiatives, and Kara Hurst, vice president and head of sustainability, lead the fund.{{Cite web |title=Update: Amazon announces $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund |url=https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/23/amazon-announces-2-billion-climate-pledge-fund/ |access-date=2021-12-21 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}
Amazon used the fund as the naming rights sponsor of Climate Pledge Arena, a sports and entertainment venue in Seattle that opened in 2021.{{cite news |last=Belson |first=Ken |date=October 29, 2021 |title=An Arena Where the Goal Is 'Net Zero' Carbon Emissions, Even From Fans |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/29/sports/climate-pledge-arena-seattle.html |work=The New York Times |accessdate=January 5, 2025}} The venue was designed with environmentally-friendly features and aimed to have net-zero emissions.{{cite news |last=Stiffler |first=Lisa |date=October 16, 2023 |title=Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena is the first arena in the world to land Zero Carbon certification |url=https://www.geekwire.com/2023/seattles-climate-pledge-arena-is-the-first-arena-in-the-world-to-land-zero-carbon-certification/ |work=GeekWire |accessdate=January 5, 2025}}
Notable investments
- BETA Technologies - Electric vertical aircraft manufacturer{{Cite web |last=Black |first=Thomas |title=Fidelity, Amazon Back E-Plane Startup in $368 Million Funding |url=https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/fidelity-amazon-back-e-plane-startup-in-368-million-funding |access-date=2021-12-21 |website=BloombergQuint |language=en}}
- CarbonCure Technologies - Lower carbon concrete manufacturer{{Cite web |date=2020-09-17 |title=Amazon Announces First Recipients of Investments from $2 Billion Climate Pledge Fund |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200917005481/en/Amazon-Announces-First-Recipients-of-Investments-from-2-Billion-Climate-Pledge-Fund |access-date=2021-12-21 |website=www.businesswire.com |language=en}}
- Redwood Materials - process & technologies for recycling lithium-ion batteries and producing battery materials from recovered elements
- Rivian - electric vehicle automaker
- Turntide Technologies - optimal efficiency motor technologies for building controls (e.g. ventilation, lighting)
- ZeroAvia - share-haul hydrogen-electric aircraft{{Cite web |last=Osborne |first=Charlie |title=Amazon invests in zero carbon footprint aviation startup ZeroAvia |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/amazon-invests-in-zero-carbon-footprint-aviation-startup-zeroavia/ |access-date=2021-12-21 |website=ZDNet |language=en}}
See also
- Microsoft's Climate Innovation Fund{{Cite web|url=https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/corporate-responsibility/sustainability/climate-innovation-fund|title=Climate Innovation Fund | Microsoft CSR|website=www.microsoft.com}}
- Breakthrough Energy Ventures
- Elemental Excelerator's Earthshot Ventures Fund{{Cite web|url=https://elementalexcelerator.com/latest/articles/earthshot-ventures/|title=We spun out a $60M fund. 5 things you didn't read in the press|date=September 8, 2021|website=Elemental Excelerator}}
- VertueLab's Climate Impact Fund{{Cite web |title=Climate Impact Fund |url=https://vertuelab.org/impact-fund |access-date=2022-07-30 |website=VertueLab}}
- Decarbon8-US{{Cite web|url=https://www.e8angels.com/decarbon8-us-fund|title=DECARBON8 - US|website=E8 Cleantech Angels}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.theclimatepledge.com/ The Climate Pledge's Website]
{{Amazon}}