this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2025

260 points (98.9% liked)

News

36512 readers

2672 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil

Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.

2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.

Obvious biased sources will be removed at the mods’ discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted separately but not to the post body. Sources may be checked for reliability using Wikipedia, MBFC, AdFontes, GroundNews, etc.

3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.

Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.

4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source. Clickbait titles may be removed.

Posts which titles don’t match the source may be removed. If the site changed their headline, we may ask you to update the post title. Clickbait titles use hyperbolic language and do not accurately describe the article content. When necessary, post titles may be edited, clearly marked with [brackets], but may never be used to editorialize or comment on the content.

5. Only recent news is allowed.

Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.

6. All posts must be news articles.

No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials, videos, blogs, press releases, or celebrity gossip will be allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Mods may use discretion to pre-approve videos or press releases from highly credible sources that provide unique, newsworthy content not available or possible in another format.

7. No duplicate posts.

If an article has already been posted, it will be removed. Different articles reporting on the same subject are permitted. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.

8. Misinformation is prohibited.

Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.

9. No link shorteners or news aggregators.

All posts must link to original article sources. You may include archival links in the post description. News aggregators such as Yahoo, Google, Hacker News, etc. should be avoided in favor of the original source link. Newswire services such as AP, Reuters, or AFP, are frequently republished and may be shared from other credible sources.

10. Don't copy entire article in your post body

For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

JonsJava@lemmy.world

gedaliyah@lemmy.world

little_cow@lemmy.world

260

Jeff Bezos fund ends support for climate group amid fears billionaires ‘bowing down’ to Trump (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 year ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

28 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Summary

Jeff Bezos’s Earth Fund has ended its funding for the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a major climate certification group, raising concerns that billionaires are shifting away from climate action under Trump.

While Earth Fund claims the $18M grant expired as planned, critics argue political pressure influenced the decision.

Trump’s administration has cut climate mentions from federal sites and slashed green funding, prompting corporations to retreat from climate commitments.

Experts fear this signals a broader decline in green investment as Trump aggressively rolls back environmental initiatives.

top 28 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] ImInLoveWithLife@lemm.ee 70 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Billionaires 'bowing down' to Trump? Like they are reluctant? Like they aren't helping orchestrate this direction? Like they give a fuck about anything but their bottom line in the short term? Like this isn't an administration designed in plain view for billionaire interests, more so than any previous administration?

[–] half_fiction@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago

For real, that's phrasing is so ridiculous as to be hilarious if we weren't staring down the barrel of a loaded gun.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 38 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The rich aren't on our side...

But good luck prying neoliberals away from their teat

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Neoliberalism has become an increasingly prevalent term in recent decades. It has been a significant factor in the proliferation of conservative and right-libertarian organizations, political parties, and think tanks, and predominantly advocated by them. Neoliberalism is often associated with a set of economic liberalization policies, including privatization, deregulation, depoliticisation, consumer choice, globalization, free trade, monetarism, austerity, and reductions in government spending. These policies are designed to increase the role of the private sector in the economy and society. Additionally, the neoliberal project is oriented towards the establishment of institutions and is inherently political in nature, extending beyond mere economic considerations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism

I wasn't sure of what it really was. Basically, tech bros.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They change their label a lot, and I always get down voted for mentioning it.

But trump never would have been a candidate if it wasn't for Clinton de-regulating everything in the 90s in exchange for donations from literally trump and people just like him.

But yeah, they took credit for the dotcom boom and started the trend of billion dollar companies paying zero in tax, because it would "trickle down" by employees taxed on salary...

So yeah, they're the OG techbros basically.

They also took credit for crime reduction, saying it was due to their incredibly harsh sentencing guidlines, when it was the same reduction every other country got from banning leaded gas.

Neoliberal policy never worked, it just popped up when things were organically getting better. But the people from Bill and Hillary in the 90s are literally Biden/Kamala's people. Hell, Biden literally was one of them himself, he took credit for the crime bill even. They've had a death grip on the party for decades, and almost nothing they're doing actually helps people.

I'm hopeful Ken Martin breaks and takes the DNC back in a pro worker direction, but we'll have to see.

If Kamala had won tho, the neoliberals would still be running the party, because she would have gotten to name the chair.

[–] fakir@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

We let this beast called greed grow unchecked for so long in the shadows and now it has come out in the open, stepping on the throat of democracy, equality, & freedom.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I think the reason you're downvoted isn't because you're necessarily wrong about Biden, Harris, etc., it's just that you're focusing on some weird rando stuff. Trump's right hand man is doing a Nazi salute and they're sending immigrants to Guantanamo Bay. Even though clinton may have started it (don't know enough to dispute), republicans could have shut that shit down for decades now. I don't really understand why you need to mention that old shit. Do you think the left thinks everyone on the left is perfect and out for the common people's good? I can say that most would say no.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

republicans could have shut that shit down for decades now.

When Clinton deregulated news media and campaign finance, it didn't just let the rich influence the Dems, it handed the Republican party lock and key to them.

Like, everyone is bitching about Trump's cuts to federal workers right now, completely ignorant that it took 30 years to recover from Clinton's 90s cuts...

trump is doing the neoliberal playbook, he's just too dumb to make people think it's a solid plan.

Do you think the left thinks everyone on the left is perfect and out for the common people’s good?

Have you not seen the posts from neoliberals taunting progressives over how many Palestinians are being killed?

Have you not seen what happens when people talked about Biden's flaws?

Now, I wouldn't expect anyone to watch mainstream cable news, but if you did you'd see it's filled with people saying it 24/7.

It's all over the place.

And that's just politically active people...

Most voters just flat out don't know what happened 30 years ago, it's worth people knowing why we're here so we can leave and never come back.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I see I'm talking to a well versed person who thinks a Neoliberal is the same is a liberal and happens to avoid the Nazi salute and Guantanamo Bay part. Interesting. I wish the laptop version could tag people.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

What?

Ironically enough, I have legitimately been to Gitmo, no idea how it's relevant tho...

[–] grue@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

@givesomefucks is focusing on root causes, which only seems like weird rando stuff to those with a surface-level understanding of the problem.

[–] Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago

What if instead of "bowing down", ALL of their DEI/nature/climate/... shit was always performative and meant as cheap PR while they privately couldn't give two flying fucks?

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 17 points 1 year ago

I expect that a lot of this isn't "bowing down to Trump", it's just people going "oh good, I can stop wasting money on initiatives I didn't really believe in without facing backlash over it."

[–] blattrules@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not so much “bowing down;” more like “in cahoots with.”

[–] samus12345@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

I guess all of them standing right behind him at his coronation wasn't enough of a clue.

[–] Xanthobilly@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Tax billionaires based on wealth instead of income and no one would care how he spends his billions.

[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm no economist but I think anything after 1billion should stop being considered "property" of the CEO/owner that is able to be monetized and should have some legal differentiation that defines it as the sole property of the corporation for purposes of defining ownership.

Everyone argues that you can't force a billionaire to have to liquidate their wealth (stocks) because it will tank the company, even though they can leverage their stocks to fund their life, so they shouldn't be allowed to own that kind of wealth to begin with. The difference after 1billion should be considered a type of "ownership token" to keep the ownership of a company in the hands of the person that made the company/runs it until they decide to pass the ownership on to someone else.

[–] thefartographer@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Shut up. Your ideas are dumb and will give everyone access to food.

Wait, that can't be right... Hold on.... - checks notes -

Oh okay, I get it now. Here we go!

Shut up. Your easily implemented "simple plans" would make universal healthcare easily accessible.

Huh... I know there's a good argument in here.... - thumbs through pages of notes -

Look, quit trying to make unchecked capitalism look bad by simply talking about it!

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 year ago

Trump is just allowing Bezos to take the mask off. He doesn't need to pretend to care anymore.

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Im so glad we just had the hottest January on record in the U.S. if we ignore climate change, surely it will just go away.

[–] WolfmanEightySix@piefed.social 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can’t have climate change if you don’t record changing climates.

[–] Tja@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago

Ah, the stop testing so there's no covid anymore strategy!

[–] ofcourse@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 year ago

The super rich have only one goal - to become richer.

It always requires labor exploitation.

Sometimes to improve their public perception, their PR teams suggest philanthropy, which they then use for tax evasion.

Other times like now, they don’t give a fuck about public perception because the public has chosen racism and bigotry.

[–] TomMasz@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Fear not! Billionaires are bowing down to Trump.

[–] xc2215x@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

They want lower taxes.

[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 3 points 1 year ago

Is this the same group that advocated for transitioning all schools and prisons to become 100% vegan, recognizing it to be an essential requirement to mitigate the climate catastrophe?

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Fears? Fears? US Billionaires are playing sooooooooo nice with Trump and Co. so that they can get sweet sweet tax cuts tailored for them like in 2017.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Climate Stunt Arena