Rivian Makes Nature a Shareholder

One of the reasons I wanted to work with Rivian was the idealism of its Founder, RJ Scaringe.  He started from a clean sheet of paper, in arguably one of the most intractable and polluting industries in the world and designed a new future for his children.  In a world awash in apocalyptic media visions, RJ held an aspirational vision of our future.   He set about building a different kind of company and raising insane amounts of capital to make it happen.  He wasn’t afraid of growth or making big bets on behalf of a better future for people and the planet.  Last week RJ and Rivian did something extraordinary, they committed 1% of the equity from their upcoming public offering to Nature, to make good on their promise to keep the world adventurous forever.   A shocking less than 2% of global philanthropy goes to planetary health and protection of the natural systems we all rely on to live:  clean water, air, and soil, biodiversity and wild lands and waters.  This commitment from Rivian represents the largest and only commitment of equity of a corporate donor to Nature at initial public offering.  Let’s not make it the last.  

My hope is that this spurs other founders, private investors, bankers and all who are involved in creating companies to act now, don’t wait, we don’t have that much time left to save our own home planet.   Be bold.  Thank you RJ and all the team at Rivian for your boldness.