This man has a strategy for using Bezos' climate billions
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Tom Taylor. Photo: Courtesy of the Bezos Earth Fund. Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
HOUSTON — Tom Taylor, president and CEO of the $10 billion Bezos Earth Fund, lacks a climate background.
- But he brings business and engineering experience — and, crucially, Jeff Bezos experience — to the role.
Why it matters: Taylor is running one of the world's largest climate philanthropies at a time when global warming has fallen down many government and C-suite agendas — even as harms pile up.
The big picture: Taylor — who started last July — told Axios at CERAWeek that he's approaching the job with an engineering, problem-solving mindset.
- He spent 23 years in senior roles at Amazon, notably running the Alexa voice assistant program.
- "I think what I brought into the organization was the same sort of inventor mindset that Amazon has, which is, think very big, think very long term, think about who your customer is," he said.
- In this case, he notes, that customer is the people and species of the planet.
Catch up quick: Bezos announced the fund in 2020 with an eye-popping $10 billion commitment. Roughly $2.3 billion has been allotted so far.
- Grants span ocean and lands protection; scaling up nuclear power, clean maritime fuels and other energy transition work; cutting agricultural methane; sustainable proteins; and beyond.
- Harnessing AI for climate solutions is one focus.
State of play: The group — which has lots of subject-matter experts on staff — works with academia and NGOs, and is now looking to increase ties with the energy sector.
- Taylor had a packed agenda of meetings at CERAWeek, spanning oil and gas execs, geothermal and other energy startups, hyperscalers, NGOs, and finance industry players.
Zoom out: "My role here was to listen to hear what's going on, but also to share with people, 'Hey, I think the industry should be thinking about philanthropy and what could philanthropy do,'" Taylor said.
- "Philanthropy isn't just about writing checks," Taylor adds.
Zoom in: One thing that's gotten his attention is "superhot rock" geothermal energy — massive resources at extraordinary depths.
- "That's an area I think we could work with universities and other researchers — can we bring that forward in time, because ultimately, I think that's going to be a great additional source of clean, baseload, affordable power."
The intrigue: Taylor replaced Andrew Steer, a well-known figure in climate circles who ran the fund for almost four years after a long tenure at the World Resources Institute.
- One philanthropy veteran — who spoke on condition of anonymity — said tapping Taylor made sense for the fund.
- "It feels like Jeff needed someone like Tom who comes from Jeff Bezos world, which he very decidedly does," the person said.
What we're watching: Taylor said the fund could support "hybrid financing" to help accelerate what private industry and venture capital do on clean tech.
- He's also exploring more opportunities to support coalitions that can speed solutions — like its recent support for the Nuclear Scaling Initiative partnership.
Sign up here for Axios' Future of Energy newsletter.
