John Doerr Donates $1.1 Billion for Stanford Climate School

Janet Lorin, Bloomberg News

John Doerr, chairman and co-founder of Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, during the 2022 CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston, Texas, U.S., on Wednesday, March 9, 2022. CERAWeek returned in-person to Houston celebrating its 40th anniversary with the theme "Pace of Change: Energy, Climate, and Innovation." , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Venture capitalist John Doerr is giving Stanford University $1.1 billion to create a school focused on climate change and sustainability, the largest donation in its history.

The gift from Doerr, and his wife Ann will create the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, according to a statement Wednesday. Doerr is chairman of venture firm Kleiner Perkins, which has backed tech giants including Amazon.com Inc., Google and Twitter Inc.

The school will house academic departments that advance the understanding of climate change and an accelerator focused on developing near-term policy and technology solutions, according to the statement.

“Stanford is making a bold, actionable, and enduring commitment to tackle humanity’s greatest challenge, and we have deep conviction in its ambition and abilities,” John and Ann Doerr said in the statement.

Doerr, 70, has a $6.1 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The New York Times reported on the donation earlier.