Key Takeaways
- Jeff Bezos’ Earth Fund is committing more than $25 million to protect over 625,000 square miles of Pacific Ocean around the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, and Vanuatu.
- Led by Lauren Sánchez Bezos, the grants bring the fund’s Pacific initiative to $63.3 million and will support marine protected areas, habitat planning, and proposals under the U.N. High Seas Treaty.
- Bezos has distributed roughly $2.4 billion of his $10 billion climate pledge, leaving more than $7 billion to award by 2030 despite grantmaking rising to at least $400 million this year.
Jeff Bezos’ Earth Fund is dropping another $25 million-plus on ocean conservation, backing an effort to protect a stretch of the Pacific larger than Alaska as the Amazon founder races to fulfill his $10 billion climate pledge by 2030.
According to Quartz, the grants will target more than 625,000 square miles of ocean surrounding the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, and Vanuatu. The money is the latest piece of the Earth Fund’s $100 million commitment to support the Unlocking Blue Pacific Prosperity initiative, which aims to protect at least 30% of the region’s waters by the end of the decade.
After awarding $37.5 million last year, the fund has now committed $63.3 million to the Pacific program.
Lauren Sánchez Bezos, who serves as vice chair of the Earth Fund and has taken an increasingly visible role in its grantmaking, is leading the effort. “Out there, the ocean isn’t just a beautiful view,” she said. “It’s the road, the pantry, the backyard.”
The latest cash will go toward several projects already taking shape across the Pacific. Papua New Guinea is working to establish its first large offshore marine protected area, while Tonga plans to expand existing protections.
Other grants will support the Cook Islands’ Marae Moana ocean park and habitat planning in Kiribati and Vanuatu.
Conservation group Rare will also receive funding to help Pacific governments develop proposals for protecting international waters under the U.N. High Seas Treaty, which took effect in January.
The program already has some massive numbers attached to it. French Polynesia, which received funding in the earlier round, has created what the Earth Fund calls the world’s largest network of fully protected marine areas, covering nearly 625,000 square miles.
Niue has protected 40% of its national waters, while 17 of the Pacific region’s 22 countries are now working on programs to protect and sustainably manage their waters.
But the $25 million announcement also puts a spotlight on the considerably larger pile of money Bezos still has to move.
The Amazon founder pledged $10 billion in 2020 to fight climate change and protect nature through the Bezos Earth Fund. Roughly $2.4 billion has been granted so far, leaving more than $7 billion to award with approximately four years remaining before the 2030 deadline.
At the current gap, the organization would need to average roughly $1.8 billion in grants annually to complete the pledge on schedule.
The pace has started picking back up. Earth Fund officials said grantmaking has climbed to at least $400 million this year after dropping to $183 million in 2025. Since April, the organization has committed tens of millions toward greener textiles and wildfire detection, $100 million to transform vacant urban land into parks, and another $100 million toward an initiative with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Re targeting critically endangered species.
The Earth Fund says it will still distribute the full $10 billion by 2030. As Kelly Levin, the organization’s chief of science, data, and systems change, explained, “We take the time before getting into an area to understand it and make sure we’re having the greatest impact that we possibly can.”
