Jeff Bezos has revealed his intention to donate billions of dollars to help fight climate change.

The cash will be used to establish the Bezos Earth Fund, which will start giving out grants this summer. According to a ranking by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Bezos’ pledge is the third largest charitable donation ever made, following behind Warren Buffet and Wallmart heiress Helen Walton.

“Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet,” Bezos said. “I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change.”

Climate change experts have welcomed the fund; however, critics have pointed out that Bezos’ company, Amazon, creates an annual carbon footprint of 44.4 million metric tonnes – the equivalent of the annual emissions of Norway. Recently, Bezos has come under pressure from his employees to do more to protect the environment and offset the company’s emissions.

In May 2019, thousands of employees signed a petition asking the company how it planned to response to climate change. In September the same year, many of those employees staged a walkout, prompting the company to announce it would go carbon neutral by 2040, ten years ahead of the deadline laid out by the Paris climate agreement. It also said it would deploy 100,000 electric delivery vans by 2024.

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“It’s going to take collective action from big companies, small companies, nation states, global organisations, and individuals,” Bezos said.

In response to the pledge, Amazon Employees for Climate Justice said: “We applaud Jeff Bezos’ philanthropy, but one hand cannot give what the other is taking away”.

The group also called on the company to stop working with oil and gas companies or funding think tanks that deny climate change.

“Will Jeff Bezos show us true leadership or will he continue to be complicit in the acceleration of the climate crisis, while supposedly trying to help?” it added.