MacKenzie Scott, the former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, announced $7.1 billion in new donations on December 9, 2025. Among them was $60 million for the Global Methane Hub, which funds projects to reduce methane, according to Fortune.Methane gas is not visible, nor can it be smelled. Yet it slips out of leaky pipes, farms, and landfills, helping to heat the planet right now, and rarely gets the attention that carbon dioxide does.
MacKenzie Scott donates $60 million for cutting down invisible gas
MacKenzie Scott revealed $7.1 billion in donations to nonprofit organisations, bringing her total giving since 2019 to $26.3 billion. A part of the donations was the Global Methane Hub, which gives out about $100 million a year to projects that cut methane. It received its second gift from Scott, this time for $60 million.According to an AP report, this is the largest climate gift of the year, with $90 million going to Forests, People, Climate, a group working to stop tropical deforestation.Scott puts no conditions on her gifts, so recipients decide how and when to spend the money.
How is methane important for the environment?
Over 20 years, one tonne of methane traps about 80 times more heat than one tonne of carbon dioxide, according to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report. But methane doesn’t stay in the air as long as carbon dioxide does; this is important for younger people, who will live through the coming decades, and it is why cutting methane has become a major climate goal around the world.
What could cutting down methane levels achieve?
A report called the Global Methane Assessment, from the United Nations Environment Programme and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, says we could cut human-caused methane emissions by up to 45% by 2030. The authors explain that methane breaks down quickly in the air, so cutting it can slow warming fairly soon. Such a cut could keep the planet from being nearly 0.3°C hotter by 2045.
Even though Scott’s donations alone can’t close the gap, it is one example of the bridge
According to the assessment, most of the measures aimed specifically at methane are in the fossil fuel industry, where leaks are easier to find and fix. About 60% of these measures are low-cost, and better waste management can help too. The report looked at costs and benefits country by country, so that policymakers can pick the best place to start.Scott’s $60 million can’t close that gap alone. But flexible money like this can still help. The Hub’s CEO, Marcelo Mena, told AP that philanthropic funding is “the bridge that we need” so the fight to cut emissions doesn’t stop.