Billionaire Jeff Bezos told the COP26 summit that his flight to space in July had persuaded him to do more to save the planet.
The Amazon founder shared a stage with Boris Johnson at the Glasgow conference as he shared his view of the planet from his Blue Origin space craft.
The American, who is the second richest man in the world, said: “I was told that seeing the Earth from space changes the lens from which you view the world.
“But I was not prepared for just how much that would be true."
He added: “Looking back at Earth from up there, the atmosphere seems so thin, the world so finite and so fragile.
“Now, in this critical year and what we all know is the decisive decade, we must all stand together to protect our world.”
Bezos has pledged $2 billion dollars for land restoration in Africa as part of the Bezos Earth Fund, doubling the amount he pledged at an event with the Prince of Wales on Monday.
Bezos spent $5.5 billion dollars in July to be in space for four minutes aboard his Blue Origin rocket.
His company has sold nearly $100 million dollars worth of tickets for future passenger flights after Star Trek’s William Shatner took a publicity flight.
Bezos, who flew into Glasgow aboard a $48 million Gulfstream jet, told the conference: “We must conserve what we still have, we must restore what we’ve lost and we must grow what we need to live without degrading the planet for future generations to come.”
“Two thirds of the land in Africa is degraded, but this can be reversed.
“Restoration can improve soil fertility, raise yields and improve food security, make water more reliable, create jobs and boost economic growth, while also sequestering carbon.”
Over 400 private jets arrived in Scotland for the conference, causing a traffic jam that forced empty planes to fly 30 miles to find a space to park.
Bezos arrived in Glasgow after celebrating Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ 66th birthday on a £2million-a-week superyacht off the coast of Turkey.
According to Oxfam the richest one per cent of people in Britain each produce eleven times the amount of carbon emissions of someone in the poorest half of the British population, Their carbon footprint is six times the national average.
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