Bezos Earth Fund CEO on COP26 and the Decisive Decade

Bezos Earth Fund President and CEO Dr. Andrew Steer tells Emily Chang what to expect from the UN climate conference, what the next decade will look like in the fight against climate change, and why governments, industry and civil society all need to chime in.
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There have been 25 years of U.N. climate conferences and COP 26
is around the corner. What are your expectations and what

results do you want to see this time.
Well the number one word is ambition.

We’re not where we need to be. About 120 countries are good in
new commitments to 2030. About 70 of those are improvements. But

we are not going to get under current plans to where we need to
get to which is a halving of greenhouse gases by 2030. So it’s

great that more than 100 heads of state are coming. They need to
raise their game. So in terms of the global strategy for climate

action it sounds like you think we’re not meeting the moment.
No. Look we’re doing better than we’ve ever done before. Those

of us that were in Paris in 2015 would not have imagined that
more than 60 countries including the United States including

Europe have committed to go to net zero by the middle of the
century to its China as well. That’s like more than 60 percent

of all the greenhouse gas emissions. So that’s good. Long term
goals are good. Even the financial markets are heading in the

right direction. A hundred trillion dollars of assets under
management are now committed to net zero by the middle of the

century. All good. Two thousand companies as well. Eighty eight
thousand cities. But the plain fact is we need a path to get

there. We need a path to 2030 and then 2040. We don’t yet have
that discipline.

So let’s talk about that path. You just co-authored a report
that found we are well off track when it comes to public and

private finance for climate change. You say that that needs to
increase 13 times faster. How do we do that. Governments need to

step up. They haven’t yet.
On the private side we’re actually doing better than we thought.

As I mentioned 100 trillion dollars under assets even in the
United States which has not been a leader in this. Most of

commercial banks now hopes to have signed up to a move to their
overall portfolio would be net zero emissions by the middle of

the century.
That’s a very important first step. And now they need to sign up

to what is called science based targets which say every year
we’re going to be transparent about what we’re lending for and

how much carbon emissions are embedded in that. And they need to
be really transparent. They need to say where they’re going to

be by 2030. By some measures climate philanthropy now rivals the
World Bank’s climate financing. Should philanthropic

organizations have that much power to shape the future of the
planet. And more than democratic institutions.

Oh I wish everybody had the power to influence the world for
good. My goodness me. I think it’s wonderful. And I say this as

someone who comes originally from Europe to see the way that
American affluent people give back and philanthropies and the

fact that they’re now giving and not only to you know
well-endowed universities but they are giving to climate as

well.
And that climate includes working in other countries. I mean I’m

really proud to be working for the base ISE Fund a 10 billion
dollar fund and we’re going to be going to Glasgow making

commitments to two difficult but very important challenges such
as the Congo basin protecting those forests there and the Andean

region and so on. Looking at the energy transition in East Asia
but then also in Africa a power but also here in the United

States doing some remarkable things helping the Biden
administration on its justice 40 40 percent of all new

investments in green technologies to benefit those that have
been left out before. So now it’s a wonderful thing.

We’re still in a once in a lifetime or once in a generation
pandemic.

What are the learnings of from Covid-19 about climate change.
What should we be taking away from this.

Well I think the number one thing is that we are all vulnerable.
Most of us including myself really believed that we weren’t

going to suffer such a thing. We really believe that our
governments were going to look after us. So we’re going to

protect us. We’re going to be well organized. What we’ve
actually discovered it is much more vulnerable than we thought

we were. And same true is true of climate change.
We are deeply vulnerable. So there’s now a real willingness to

change.
So I think there are some very positive things to come out of

this. A willingness to change a recognition that we can change
quicker than we thought. Look at us. We’re all working in homes

still and we’re being just as effective. We can adjust and
that’s a very good thing.

But my goodness me we have spent 13 trillion dollars on
ourselves as rich countries rebooting our own economies. How

wonderful it be. If we could be supportive of unless developing
countries who need more help now than ever partly because of the

corona virus but also because of climate challenges.
Oil executives are in Washington at this very moment facing

questions about industry campaigns to thwart climate action. I’m
curious if you have a look at the industry’s successful record

of steering politicians and steering the public and think what
are they doing right rhetorically that environmentalists are

not. We need to put people at the center of our argument. We
need to say look that was an economics of the last century.

There was an economy of the last century. There’s a new economy
now an economy that says no there’s not a tradeoff. If you want

a healthy economy if you want more jobs if you want efficiency
if you want new technologies you don’t resist climate action.

You accelerate climate action because that gives you more
efficiency drives new technologies it reduces risk and it

reshapes expectations towards a future that is much much better
that you and your children your grandchildren. We haven’t done a

very good job on that quite frankly. The amazing thing is that
now the economics profession which used to always say no there’s

a tradeoff here now recognizes that there is only one way
towards a healthier economy and that is a low carbon climate

resilient economy which by the way will also be more inclusive
and equal.

Now that you’re at the helm of the Bezos Earth Fund how and
where will you put that 10 billion dollars to work.

Well this is what we all call the decisive decade isn’t it. I
mean we we we our recent IPCC scientific report showed that

actually in the next 10 years we will get up to enough carbon
and greenhouse gases that will bring us over the one point five

degree limit where it starts getting really dangerous. This is
the decade we’ve got to we’ve got to basically pivot this

decade. That means we’ve got to have some revolutions which are
very exciting. What we’re doing is we’re looking at the 40 to 50

revolutions that are required. We’re asking which 10 should we
be in and how should we engage in them. So that change becomes

irresistible and unstoppable and we cross that tipping point. So
that’s the job of philanthropy. That’s the way we’re going about

it. And we’re starting with some pretty exciting things.
Jeff Bezos involved in the day to day operations of the Bezos

Earth Fund. How often do you talk to him.
Regularly. Yes he’s he’s very interested indeed. And it’s very

exciting having conversations with him.
And what are your conversations with Jeff focused on. I mean I’m

curious how he’s approaching this perhaps differently than
others you’ve worked with other institutions you’ve worked for.

Well obviously if you are as successful as as as Jeff and many
other leading industrialists and entrepreneurs you’re dealing

with somebody that is deeply intelligent and deeply analytical
and deeply passionate about what he is doing. And it’s extremely

exciting. And it’s 20 30 is still the target date for the
distribution of that 10 billion dollars or is that just an

initial sum in the fund could go on after a decade.
The intention that Jeff has is that we will that we will

disburse these funds in this decisive decade. And there are some
wonderful opportunities to do so. I mean this is a time not to

be wringing one’s hands in despair but rather to be saying my
goodness me we need to leverage these funds. I mean ten billion

dollars is a lot of money at the same time. The need to totally
vast. So every single dollar that is disbursed needs not only to

earn its way on its own particular project or a particular you
know

results framework if you like. It needs to leverage other change
to the whole point is to get a kind of upward spiral of

hope what we call an ambition of where you know you’ve got the
private sector the government sector civil society basically you

know egging each other on encouraging each other to go the next
step. And that’s exactly what we need in Glasgow next week.

Now Jeff has 190 billion dollars and yes 10 billion dollars is a
lot of money the planet thanks him for his generosity. But is

that enough. Is this next decade is so critical. I think it’s
totally remarkable that someone should give away this amount of

money. And I think we should we should use it with with great
stewardship. And we just need to see you know we just need to

see generosity of spirit all round quite frankly from all of us
including our governments. We need to really go the extra mile

now because because there is an opportunity to change the world
and the future can be much more exciting than this. So can you

give us any hints about the where the next big investment might
be or the areas of interest you really need to do. Three things.

We need to protect what we still have. We need to restore what
we’ve lost and we need to transform food systems and the rural

economy. And a month ago we committed a billion dollars for the
first of those. And we’re going to be starting projects in those

right away. And the next week we’ll be announcing equivalent
programs for the other two restoration and and food system

transformation. That’s on the nature side. Now when it comes to
for example the energy side

lots and lots of people are working really well and diligently
on the transformation of energy towards lower carbon and more

reliable
access for everybody. What’s happening at the moment is not

really all adding up. And so we’re engaging with others. And the
question of what would it take to really sort of accelerate

momentum in a big way. How could we bring everybody together
says another issue that we’re working on right now. Now I’m

curious how you’re going to measure the success of your
investments. You know in the technology industry there’s there’s

a lot of measurements and data. And you look at the numbers
quarter after quarter. How will you measure success. Well we

certainly will and we certainly must because if you don’t
measure it. You won’t treasure it and you’ll manage it. So I’ll

give you one example. So last year the base a fund put 60
million dollars into a satellite system that will measure land

use change not only how land use is changing but how much carbon
is embedded in that that is going up in the sky and how much is

coming back down. It’s called the carbon flux. So you imagine
when we’re able to do this and and companies or countries are

saying my goodness me look what we’re doing. We’re protecting
all this forest or with planting or these trees. Every single

project that we have we would geo reference and we would know
exactly how many trees are being planted and how long they have

lasted and how much carbon is embedded in them. And you can if
you think about this more this could enable a carbon market.

There’s a lot going on at the moment that we’re involved in. And
you may be too on the voluntary carbon market. A lot of

corporations are saying look we want to do the right thing. But
up until now a lot of those investments haven’t been very high

quality. They protected the forest for a few years but then it’s
gone. Well they planted trees. Actually they didn’t last. We

will be on a no down to the sort of tonne of carbon down to the
30 metre by 30 meter resolution. We will be able to basically

look at that carbon flux so you can imagine a carbon market
really taking root. Do you see these investments offsetting for

example Amazon’s carbon footprint the airplanes the trucks the
vans. Or is more needed here to do so.

But I wouldn’t talk particularly. I don’t work for Amazon. So
you’d have to talk to them about that. But Amazon is along with

another more than 100 countries companies is committed to go net
zero. Ten years early. What do you think philanthropy is biggest

impact will be in the next 30 years.
Philanthropy can can move quickly can take risks that it’s

difficult for bigger bureaucracies to take. And it can identify
those those opportunities. You know the reason that we’re not

crossing tipping points that we need to cross is a whole range
of issues. And what we can do is really look for those brokers

and we can go in engage quickly
in a unselfish team orientated way. But with real force in your

prior role at the World Resources Institute you would gather
experts from around the world. At the end of the year and ask

them what stories you should be watching what stories should we
be watching in 2022. That’s a wonderful wonderful question.

Whether or not the decisions that were made and announced in
Glasgow

are being implemented it is. It is very tempting. When one goes
to Glasgow it’s going to be nearly 30000 people there. You’ve

got over 100 heads of state. You’ve got some of those powerful
CEOs in the world that will be there to make grandiose

statements and commitments. And what we need to do is say okay
it’s it’s now January 1st 2022 OK. Where are we on this. We need

to monitor and monitor and monitor and be accountable. So the
story I think the first story is are we actually doing what we

promised to do. And then there are many subsidiary stories. What
about what we haven’t yet promised to do. What about those

technologies for cement and steel. What about those commitments
for ocean liners. What about airline fuel which is the next one.

What about the fact that actually that you know animals are
emitting methane which is causing a huge issue. We now have new

feedstocks but we need to subsidise that because a whole range
of technological issues that are very very exciting. And then

into 2022 we have the biodiversity convention meeting which is a
once in a 10 year thing where we set new goals for the decade.

And that’s where we want all the countries to commit to what’s
called 30 by 30 30 percent of all the land and all the sea to be

protected by 30 30 by 2030. That’s what we allocated the billion
dollars for. And another eight philanthropies allocated another

four billion. So there’s five billion dollars from
philanthropists for that. And in Glasgow we’re going to do some

preparatory meetings for that. And then leading on to the
Biodiversity Committee meeting in April which will be in Kunming

in China. And China of course has an incredibly important role
to play because China imports so much. And it’s those

importations of commodities that lead to some of the destruction
that’s happening. And so we’re working with them as well.