Amazon just created a $2 billion climate fund

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The Download

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06.24.2020

Good morning! Today: Amazon has set up a $2 billion climate fund, and Toronto is selling itself as a "nice person's Silicon Valley." Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day.

Amazon just created a $2 billion climate fund

The news: Amazon has launched a $2 billion venture fund to invest in companies developing ways to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. It said the fund would focus on startups that could help it achieve “net zero” emissions by 2040.

What’s behind the move? The Seattle retail giant has come under growing pressure from the public and its own employees to shrink its environmental footprint as the dangers of global warming grow. After walkouts last year, Amazon committed to achieve “net zero” emissions by 2040, which means it would need to offset any remaining emissions from its operations through investments in carbon removal projects, such as forest restoration or carbon capture machines.

Bottom line: More money for clean technology is always welcome news. But Amazon still has plenty of work to do on reducing its own emissions, which rose 15% last year to more than 50 million metric tons.

—James Temple

Toronto would like to be seen as the nice person’s Silicon Valley, if that’s not too much trouble

Come to Canada: In recent years Canada has become a magnet for technology talent, reeling Canadians back home and diverting the stream of overseas applicants away from Silicon Valley to Montreal, Vancouver, and the Toronto-Kitchener-Waterloo corridor. Some are drawn by the image of Canada as a liberal utopia, where diversity, inclusion, and humility triumph over greed and bigotry.

A contrast: As President Donald Trump tightens the US border, Trudeau opens Canada’s arms ever wider, promising to welcome 350,000 additional immigrants by 2021. As a result, Toronto added more new tech jobs between 2013 and 2018 than any other North American market surveyed. Canada has its own technomythology. Instead of tech bros, it has a workforce portrayed as diverse, reserved, and polite. Where Silicon Valley prizes trend-setting consumer products, Toronto’s startups tend to be more focused on services and products for business and government clients that are less likely to capture the public imagination.

Privacy forward: Canada’s tech industry activists caught the world’s attention for shutting down Sidewalk Labs, a Google-owned project to create a smart (and surveillance-powered) city in an area of Toronto. There’s now a real opportunity for the country to help lead a new, privacy-protecting movement in technology. “Canada could become the Switzerland of privacy,” says John Ruffolo, a venture capitalist and staunch Sidewalk critic. Read the full story.

—Brian Barth

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And check out our list of 35 young innovators who are trying to change the world.

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)

+ An accurate summary of how 2020 has felt.
+ Some beautiful classical solos.
+ There’s a new game called Word Racers on Houseparty.
+ Nashville Public Library made a cute video about its new curbside service.
+ A possum playing tic tac toe.
+ A sequel to Chicken Run is coming to Netflix.
+ Take a virtual drive in a Mars Rover.

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The top ten must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Why are South Asia’s covid-19 numbers so low (for now)?
A young population, very low testing rates, and a lack of data gathering. (Quanta)
+ The virus is gaining steam across Latin America. (NYT $)

2 A man in the US was wrongfully arrested due to a facial recognition algorithm
This is the first known case of its kind, and it sets a very worrying precedent. (NYT $)

3 Gaming is finally having its #MeToo moment
Dozens of women are speaking out about sexism and harassment in the industry. (Vice)
+ Streamers are calling for a one-day boycott of Twitch in protest at its response. (Ars Technica)

4 The tech sector is up in arms about Trump’s guest worker ban
Google has warned it’s a threat to US innovation. (The Verge)
+ Apple and Twitter have joined the chorus of voices opposing the ban. (The Verge)

5 Twitter has censured another Trump tweet for threatening violence
Maybe it would be easier for him to just not tweet at this point. (CNBC)

6 Washington has become the latest state to make masks mandatory
People will have to wear them in all indoor public spaces from Friday. (Axios)
+ Put your mask over your damn nose. (Gizmodo)

7 Can violent men stop themselves when no one’s watching?
Online intervention programs are one of the only ways they’re being held accountable during the pandemic. (New Yorker $)

8 China is cracking down on livestreaming 🤳
Apparently the concern is over “vulgar” content. (The Information $)

9 The My Little Pony fandom has a Nazi problem
Yes, you read that correctly. (The Atlantic)
+ Why it’s (mostly) okay for kids to talk to strangers online. (WSJ $)
+ The double-edged sword of virtual spaces for LGBTQ+ teens. (Scientific American)

10 RIP The Segway
You were too silly for this world. (BBC)

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Quote of the Day

“The next couple of weeks are going to be critical.”

—Dr Anthony S. Fauci tells House lawmakers that time is running out to suppress a surge in covid-19 cases in Florida, Texas, Arizona and other states that have reopened too quickly.