On February 17, a Monday afternoon, Amazon (AMZN  ) chief executive Jeff Bezos announced in an Instagram post the launch of the $10 billion Bezos Earth Fund to combat anthropomorphic climate change. He wrote: "This global initiative will fund scientists, activists, NGOs - any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world. We can save Earth. It's going to take collective action from big companies, small companies, nation states, global organizations, and individuals." Bezos labeled climate change the biggest threat to our planet and added he will start issuing grants from the fund to recipients starting in the summer. As the wealthiest individual in the world worth around $130 billion and a billionaire who has not made large personal grants of philanthropy in the past, Bezos would still be at the top of the list even after giving $10 billion to Earth Fund grantees.

Despite being a massive investment, Bezos' announcement of the philanthropy initiative was not met with universal acclaim. Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, an organization of workers that organized a recent walkout for climate and continues to push the tech giant to take more action, stated: "We applaud Jeff Bezos' philanthropy, but one hand cannot give what the other is taking away." Their statement refers to Amazon's massive carbon footprint and many activists' belief the firm is moving too slow and too little on climate action, as well as the fact that Amazon's cloud unit and other tech giants are increasingly partnering with oil and gas majors to help them more efficiently extract and produce fossil fuels, which environmentalists want to stay underground. But other industry experts gave more encouraging feedback. Yale professor Kenneth Gillingham noted while $10 billion will not solve the issue of climate change, it is on par with what global intergovernmental organizations have invested in efforts in the past. Finally, the cynical view could be that Bezos made his announcement one day before the premiere of FRONTLINE's "Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos," which takes a critical look at Amazon's impact, in order to help distract the media.

Bezos' act of personal philanthropy is historic both for himself and the environmentalist movement. While his $10 billion pledge by itself is not enough to combat and turn the tide of climate change, it will likely spark more conversations among other billionaire philanthropists about innovative projects and grants, as well as spur greater collaboration between the private sector and world governments. Depending on which grantees receive funding from the Bezos Earth Fund and how they end up using the gifts, the move could become a valuable and effective way to change the discussion around the pivotal scientific and political topic at a crucial time.

The author does not hold any positions in any of the securities above.