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Billionaires have a nasty popularity for leaving a big carbon footprint, but a few of the world’s richest individuals are leading the cause to assist reduce the devastating effects of climate change.
These business leaders invest their personal fortune in renewable energy, fund research to scale back pollution, and help create sustainable jobs. In addition they support green businesses and organizations which might be attempting to make an enduring impact.
Sustainability is a subject that many business leaders and firms are vocal about (green laundering has been well documented), but there are just a few billionaires who put money of their mouths.
Related: ‘I’m giving way more cash to climate change than Elon Musk’: Bill Gates and Elon Musk reignite their feud
Yvon Chouinard
Estimated net value: $1.2 billion
Yvon Chouinard founded Patagonia, a California-based clothing and equipment company. What began as Chouinard selling clothes in 1973 to support his hardware business has grown right into a $3 billion multi-country company today.
Last yr, Chouinard, his wife Malinda Pennoyer and their children, Fletcher and Claire, donated all of their property in Patagonia to a trust and non-profit organization, The Holdfast Collective, whose mission is to fight climate change. Chouinard says he wants Patagonia’s profits for use to fight climate change and protect undeveloped land.
Marek Lore
Estimated value: $4 billion
Tech entrepreneur Lore founded Jet.com and Quidsi and was the former CEO of Walmart US eCommerce. He has built his success on a commitment to customer satisfaction and a drive to make a difference.
Lore recently outlined his vision for Telos, “America’s recent city”, an ecological metropolis he desires to create on 150,000 acres of the American desert. Lore hopes to be home to 50,000 “diverse” people by 2030.
His vision is to supply sustainable energy production and a “15-minute” city design that can allow residents to access work, schools and other necessities near their homes and eliminate commuting time.
Gwendolyn Sontheim Meyer
Estimated value: $6.8 billion
Gwendolyn Sontheim Meyer is an inspirational billionaire and philanthropist. The nice-great-granddaughter of Carfill founder William Wallace Cargill, Meyer owns a stake in a privately owned US food giant.
She founded a number one software company and works for girls’s rights and sustainable economic development.
Resulting from her economic philanthropy, Meyer has made working with indigenous tribes a priority and has recently been actively involved in a campaign to guard Bristol Bay from mining project. Meyer is obsessed with protecting the environment, supporting a sustainable future and making a green future for the area.
Phil Knight
Estimated value: $45.6 billion
Nike co-founder Phil Knight is a self-made billionaire who has transformed a small shoe company into considered one of the most recognizable brands in the world.
Nicknamed “Uncle Phil,” Knight instilled a culture in Nike that defends our surroundings. They launched a go to zero campaign that’s Nike’s vision to realize zero carbon emissions and 0 waste.
Along with Nike, Knight made the largest monetary donation Stanford has ever received from a person – $400 million – to assist create the recent Knight-Hennessy Scholars program to tackle poverty and climate change. He announced it the day before his 78th birthday.
Robert F. Smith
Estimated value: $8 billion
In 2000, Smith founded the private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, which with $96 billion in assets is now considered one of the most successful private equity firms in the world.
Smith has long advocated for addressing and tackling climate change. WITH Business Round Tableworks with the CEOs of the largest US firms, including Amazon, Chevron and General Motors, supporting market prices for carbon dioxide emission allowances and creating strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The group says it is going to support initiatives to scale back U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 2005 levels by 2050. As well as, it has made significant donations to educational institutions, and its commitment to giving back has modified the lives of countless people.
Jensen Huang
Estimated value: $19.2 billion
Billionaire and NVIDIA co-founder Jensen Huang has revolutionized the way we experience computing. His expertise in artificial intelligence, graphics processing and high-performance computing has made him considered one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world.
Huang believes that AI may very well be used to simulate the future, specifically the impact of climate change over time. He and his wife, Lori Huang, donated $50 million to Oregon State University’s innovation complex, which he believes will help scientists understand methods to manage the effects of climate change. The complex will include a supercomputer performing the function of e.g “digital twin” to Earth simulate and predict climate change.
Donald “Bubby” and Dan Cathy
Estimated value: $8.1 billion each
Founded by their late father, Samuel Truett Cathy, in 1946, Chick-fil-A has turn into considered one of the world’s most iconic restaurant chains. After his death in 2014, his sons Donald and Dan took over the reigns of Dwarf House and Chick-fil-A, continuing their corporate social responsibility.
They take a novel approach to reducing construction waste and have implemented a process called “Lean Construction” which has a 50% reduction in construction waste. Cathy’s brothers focused on being “faithful stewards of every thing entrusted to them,” including the planet.
Alice Walton
Estimated value: $64.7 billion
When Alice’s father, Sam Walton, founded Walmart in 1962, she was only 13 years old. By 1990, Walmart had turn into the largest retailer in the United States. Sam once said that his only daughter, Alice, is “most like me – she’s a maverick.” After his death in 1992, Alice continued to pursue her philanthropic vision.
By The Walton Family Foundationfocuses on conservation work, protecting oceans and rivers for the advantage of people and the environment, and solving food sustainability issues. There may be a shared belief inside their Foundation that those closest to environmental change are sometimes closest to the solution.
Keen about maintaining the resources that sustain people, her common goal with the Foundation is to supply healthy water for people and nature, and to develop an economically and environmentally sustainable development path for our planet.
Joe Gebbia
Estimated value: $8.3 billion
After Joe Gebbia graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology, he and his friend Brian Chesky moved to San Francisco to pursue their entrepreneurial aspirations. Together, they created the revolutionary Airbnb platform that made Gebbia a billionaire and a pacesetter in the hospitality industry.
Gebbia has focused most of its philanthropic efforts on tackling climate change through garbage removal. He has donated to organizations reminiscent of The Ocean Cleanup to remove plastic from our oceans and rivers.
Seeing it roughly $175 billion a yr is required to guard the oceans, but with lower than $10 billion in total invested in the cause, Gebbia stepped up. After donating $25 million, Gebbia said, “I’m proud to partner with The Ocean Cleanup of their critical work to remove harmful plastics from our oceans.”
David Philo
Estimated value: $5.3 billion
David Filo is the co-founder of Yahoo! in 1994 with Jerry Tang, which has turn into considered one of the world’s largest brands and most visited web sites. While at Yahoo!, Filo was behind several grassroots energy efficiency campaigns to make sure Yahoo! is the solution, not the problem of climate change.
How already in 2009, Yahoo! said it will not be buying carbon offsets for its operations, focusing its climate strategy on reducing the energy use of its data centers.
Beyond Yahoo! David and his wife, Angela Filo, run the Yellow Chair Foundation, which prioritizes climate change and the environment.