By the numbers: 

- $100 million: the amount of money earmarked to restore and conserve natural habitats

Amazon’s Right Now Climate Fund supports local projects in the communities where it operates and is aimed at mitigating the impacts of climate change, enhancing biodiversity and climate resilience, and adding green space to urban areas. These projects complement Amazon’s broader operational decarbonization efforts toward The Climate Pledge.

The Fund has supported a wide variety of nature projects in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and North America including: 

Restoring habitat in urban areas. Amazon contributed funding for 22 nature restoration projects through the Mayor of London’s Rewild London Fund, in partnership with London Wildlife Trust and Groundwork London. These are focused on protecting water voles, improving habitats for reptiles, and reintroducing species such as beavers to West London for the first time in 400 years.

Altogether, the projects will enable over 100 hectares of priority habitat to be restored or created – the equivalent of more than 160 soccer fields – and focus on London’s core wildlife network, making the city a more vibrant home for nature and the local community. “Rewilding allows nature to take the lead and is an exciting way to create healthier ecosystems and allow humans and wildlife to live together more harmoniously,” said Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London.

Building climate resilience. The Fund is supporting a consortium of partners headed by North Sea Farmers to develop the world’s first commercial-scale seaweed farm located between offshore wind turbines off the coast of the Netherlands. The project tests methods of seaweed farming while researching the potential of seaweed to sequester carbon. Locating seaweed farms between offshore wind turbines uses untapped space to capture carbon. 

Enhancing biodiversity and climate resilience. The Fund supports communities and conservation efforts in the Western Ghats in India, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and critical wildlife conservation zone home to wild Asian elephants and tigers. Funding to the Centre for Wildlife studies will expand the Wild Carbon project, which will enable 2,000 farmers and their households to plant up to 300,000 trees over three years.

“We have designed the Wild Carbon program with an unwavering commitment to wildlife conservation, and also poverty alleviation through livelihood support. By partnering with and incentivizing farmers to be part of the solution, we will be able to facilitate buffer habitats for tigers, elephants and other endangered species,” says Dr. Krithi Karanth, Executive Director of the Centre for Wildlife Studies.

Other work the Fund has supported includes: turning ancient Belgian woodlands into a protected national park; restoring 500 hectares of peatland habitat in Western Ireland and a wildfire-stricken region of Spain; preserving and restoring biodiverse habitats across France; planting ~450,000 trees across the U.K. and 60,000 in Italy and Germany, and protecting and restoring the forests of small family land owners in the eastern U.S.