Charlotte Pera is the vice president for strategy and programs of the Bezos Earth Fund. She is the former president and CEO of the ClimateWorks Foundation and held multiple high-level positions at the Energy Foundation, including director of United States programs, U.S. transportation program director, and senior vice president of the foundation. ^{1 2}

Pera has donated to multiple Democratic Party presidential candidates, including then-Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and then-Senator John Kerry (D-MA). ³

Early Life

Charlotte Pera is the vice president of strategy and programs for the Bezos Earth Fund and former president and CEO of the ClimateWorks Foundation. ⁴

Pera attended Stanford University in 1985 and received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1989. She continued her education at Stanford University to receive a master’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1991. ⁵

Career

After graduating from Stanford University in 1991, Pera became a project manager at Acurex Environmental, an engineering consulting firm, until 1999. While she worked for Acurex, Pera designed programs to reduce vehicle pollution and “developed emissions inventory models.” ⁶

Pera left Acurex in 1999 to work at the Energy Foundation, also known as the United States Energy Foundation, a left-of-center “pass-through” charitable foundation founded by and supported by a network of left-wing organizations. The Foundation began in January 1991 as a $20 million collaborative between the Pew Charitable Trusts, Rockefeller family foundations, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and has subsequently grown in partnerships and funding. ^{7 8}

Pera held multiple positions at the Energy Foundation including director of United States programs, U.S. transportation program director, and senior vice president of the foundation. Pera also helped the foundation launch its program in China and supported the creation of the European Climate Foundation, a left-of-center nonprofit that funds climate change-orientated advocacy organizations in Europe. ⁹

After leaving the Energy Foundation in 2012, Pera became the president and CEO of the ClimateWorks Foundation, a left-of-center pass-through funding entity that distributes funds from donors to environmentalist advocacy groups around the world. Many of these nonprofits lobby for emissions taxes, restricting coal use, international climate treaties with strict enforcement mechanisms, and diminishing the use of cars. ^{10 11}

While she was president and CEO of ClimateWorks, the foundation contributed around $640 million in grantmaking, tripled its number of staff, and raised the foundation’s budget to more than $140 million in 2021. ¹²

Pera left her role as president and CEO of the ClimateWorks Foundation in May of 2021 when she became the vice president for strategy and programs at the Bezos Earth Fund, a left-of-center charitable project launched by billionaire Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos in February 2020. Bezos endowed the Fund with $10 billion to be disbursed by 2030 to environmentalist projects aimed at combatting climate change. ^{13 14}

Pera is still the vice president for strategy and programs, as of January 2024. ¹⁵

Pera is on the supervisory board of the European Climate Foundation. She also was a founding board member of the International Council on Clean Transportation. ¹⁶

Political Donations

According to OpenSecrets, Charlotte Pera has donated to multiple Democratic Party presidential election candidates. ¹⁷ Pera donated $1,000 to then-Senator John Kerry (D-MA) in 2004 during his presidential election campaign. She also donated a total of $500 to then-Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) in 2008, and $1,500 to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016. ¹⁸

1. “Charlotte Pera.” Climate One. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.climateone.org/people/charlotte-pera.
2. “Charlotte Pera.” LinkedIn. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-pera-893452aa/.
3. “Charlotte Pera.” OpenSecrets. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.opensecrets.org/search?q=charlotte+pera&type=donors.
4. “Meet Charlotte Pera, Vice President for Strategy and Programs.” Bezos Earth Fund. July 27, 2022. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.bezosearthfund.org/news-and-insights/meet-charlotte-pera.
5. “Charlotte Pera.” LinkedIn. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-pera-893452aa/.
6. “Charlotte Pera.” Climate One. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.climateone.org/people/charlotte-pera.
7. “Charlotte Pera.” LinkedIn. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-pera-893452aa/.
8. “United States Energy Foundation Tax Return Form 990 – 2020.” GuideStar. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2020/831/740/2020-831740146-202133149349306568-9.pdf?_gl=1*wz97fl*_ga*OTM4MDIwOTg1LjE2Mzg0NTU2MTc.*_ga_5W8PXYYGBX*MTY2MjA1MTcxOC4xMDIuMS4xNjYyMDUzMDg0LjQ4LjAuMA..&_ga=2.97525980.272483343.1662043149-938020985.1638455617.
9. “Charlotte Pera.” Climate One. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.climateone.org/people/charlotte-pera.
10. “Charlotte Pera.” LinkedIn. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-pera-893452aa/.
11. Wooster, Martin Morse. “A Reaganite Entrepreneur’s Flawed Philanthropy.” Capital Research Center. January 1, 2013. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://capitalresearch.org/article/a-reaganite-entrepreneurs-flawed-philanthropy/.
12. “Leadership transition at ClimateWorks Foundation.” ClimateWorks Foundation. December 19, 2023. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.climateworks.org/blog/leadership-transition-at-climateworks-foundation/
13. “Charlotte Pera.” LinkedIn. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-pera-893452aa/.
14. Gamboa, Glenn. “Bezos plans to spend $10 billion by 2030 on climate change.” AP News. March 9, 2021. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://apnews.com/general-news-bee1aea9cffc377400048dcb5b7405f0.
15. “Meet Charlotte Pera, Vice President for Strategy and Programs.” Bezos Earth Fund. July 27, 2022. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.bezosearthfund.org/news-and-insights/meet-charlotte-pera.
16. “Charlotte Pera.” World Economic Forum. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.weforum.org/people/charlotte-pera/.
17. “Charlotte Pera.” OpenSecrets. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.opensecrets.org/search?q=charlotte+pera&type=donors.
18. “Charlotte Pera.” OpenSecrets. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.opensecrets.org/search?q=charlotte+pera&type=donors.