Rivian, Redwood Materials among first recipients of Amazon's $2 billion climate fund

(Reuters) - EV startup Rivian and Tesla co-founder J.B. Straubel-led Redwood Materials have been named among the first recipients of investments from Amazon.com Inc's <AMZN.O> $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund, the e-commerce giant said on Thursday.

Amazon, which delivers about 10 billion items a year and has a massive transportation and data center footprint, has faced protests from environmental activists and pressure from its employees to take action on climate change.

The company in June announced the launch of the venture capital fund that will focus on technology investments to reduce the impact of climate change and support sustainable development.

CarbonCure Technologies, Pachama, and Turntide Technologies, which offer technologies that minimize carbon emission in sectors ranging from construction to energy, were other recipients of the fund, Amazon said on Thursday.

The e-commerce giant has vowed to be net carbon neutral by 2040.

(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)