Tesla boss
Elon Musk offers a billion-dollar donation for hungry people – on one condition
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is by far the richest person in the world
© Patrick Pleul / DPA
Elon Musk could save millions of people from hunger with a fraction of his fortune, the UN World Food Program had declared. The billionaire is open to it, but wants evidence to support this claim.
Elon Musk is getting richer and richer: After car rental company Hertz ordered 100,000 electric vehicles from its Tesla company, the Tesla price soared that Musk’s fortune rose by $ 36 billion. According to calculations by the financial news service Bloomberg, he has more than 300 billion dollars for the first time – making him by far the richest person in the world.
But this also increases the pressure on Musk to use his financial resources to solve urgent social problems in the world. David Beasley, executive director of the United Nations World Food Program, claimed that two percent of Musk’s assets would be enough to feed all the hungry people in the world. “Six billion dollars to help 42 million people who will literally die if we don’t reach them. It’s not complicated,” Beasley told CNN. Now Musk has responded to it via Twitter.
Elon Musk calls for transparency
The billionaire actually offered to donate six billion. However, on one condition. If the World Food Program could explain to him exactly how that sum could solve the world’s hunger problem, he would immediately sell his Tesla shares and donate the money, Musk tweeted. However, the bill must be completely transparent so that the public can understand how the money is being spent.
Behind this, there are obviously doubts that the amount requested by the UN World Food Program could actually provide a solution to the problem. Political conditions with corruption and violent conflicts are often very confusing in the affected countries. Musk responded to a tweet in which a scientist questioned what six billion could do against hunger in the world – after all, the World Food Program had already raised more than eight billion in donations last year. So now it is up to both sides – the United Nations and Elon Musk – to show how serious they are.
Pandemic and climate change exacerbate the climate crisis
Beasley has already replied, also on Twitter, “I can assure you that we have the systems for transparency and open source accounting. Your team can review this and work with us to be absolutely certain.” He also made it clear once again that this sum is not about ending hunger around the world. Instead, he only spoke of the current hunger crisis. This has reached particularly severe proportions due to the Covid 19 pandemic, climate change, rising food prices and armed conflicts. The countries that have been hardest hit include Yemen and South Sudan.
Sources: Elon Musk on Twitter / CNN / UN World Food Program