Jeff Bezos's Earth Fund under scrutiny for potential influence on carbon credit market

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🗞️ Driving the news: Concerns are growing over the influence of Amazon and the Bezos Earth Fund on the carbon credit market and climate standards
• Both Amazon and the Bezos fund have ties to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a key organization setting corporate climate goals
• Critics worry that these connections could lead to a relaxation of standards on the use of carbon credits, which some companies prefer to achieve net-zero emissions targets more cheaply

🔭 The context: The Bezos Earth Fund is a major financial supporter of SBTi, alongside other climate initiatives like the Greenhouse Gas Protocol
• Despite claims of independence, there are fears that the fund's financial influence could skew climate standards to favor increased use of carbon credits
• These credits are often cheaper than direct emissions reductions and have come under scrutiny for their actual environmental impact

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: The potential for Big Tech and corporate influence over carbon credit regulations raises concerns about the integrity of global climate commitments
• If standards are weakened, it could undermine efforts to genuinely reduce emissions and combat climate change, making it harder to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement

⏭️ What's next: The UK Charity Commission is advising SBTi on improving its governance to avoid conflicts of interest
• Meanwhile, the Bezos Earth Fund and Amazon continue to expand their initiatives in the carbon credit space, including through Amazon's Climate Pledge and new market labels to assess carbon credit quality

💬 One quote: “If big polluters like Amazon want to reach net zero as cheaply as possible, they may well have an incentive to engineer a situation where offsets are seen as credible,” said Holger Hoffman-Riem, SBTi technical advisor

📈 One stat: The voluntary carbon market, which includes carbon credits, is currently valued at about $1 billion

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