BlackRock Head of Sustainability Policy and Engagement Paul Bodnar announced that he will be departing the firm, to join the Bezos Earth Fund.

The Bezos Earth Fund was founded in 2020, with a $10 billion philanthropic commitment from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, aimed at funding scientists, activists, NGOs and others driving solutions to fight climate change and protect nature. The fund has provided over 100 grants to date, allocating more than $1.6 billion, and aims to fully disburse the $10 billion pledge by 2030.

Bodnar has been at BlackRock since 2021, leading the firm’s sustainable investing platform and its global initiative to help clients create more sustainable, more resilient investment portfolios, and with responsibility for sustainability research, analytics, product development, and integration of ESG considerations into the investment process.

In a LinkedIn post announcing the move, Bodnar said:

“As someone who has built my career at the intersection of finance and the net-zero transition, there has been no greater honor and challenge than leading sustainable investing at BlackRock.

“BlackRock has changed the way the financial sector thinks about sustainability. It was one of the first to recognize the potential for climate risk to reshape finance, and to help investors navigate and participate in that transformation. It has also been steadfast about the difficult realities of the transition and the need to retain a laser focus on fiduciary duty, even amidst intense public debates about whether asset managers are doing too little, or too much, to address climate change.”

Prior to joining BlackRock, Bodnar served as Chief Strategy Officer and Managing Director at RMI, a non-profit organization working to accelerate the clean energy transition, where he founded and chaired RMI’s Center for Climate-Aligned Finance, an initiative designed to help shape the financial industry’s role in facilitating the transition to a low-carbon, sustainable economy and society.

Before RMI, Bodnar served under the Obama administration, including as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Energy & Climate Change.

Bodnar added:

“In April, I will join the Bezos Earth Fund to help lead its work on climate finance, industry, and diplomacy… I look forward to harnessing my experience in finance, government, and the non-profit sector in this new challenge.”

BlackRock confirmed Bodnar’s planned departure, adding that his responsibilities will be divided across members of the firm’s recently formed Sustainable Transition Solutions (STS) team.