Here's Who The UN's World Food Program Wants To 'Step Up'
The mission of the Nobel Prize-winning U.N.'s World Food Programme is to end global hunger. Last October, Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, set aside just under $6 billion, which the program's head, David Beasley, seemed to believe was earmarked for donation to the program, per AP News. Beasley's belief came out of a Twitter dialogue in which Musk seemingly pledged $6 billion of his own liquidated Tesla stock to the program for the purpose of solving the global hunger crisis.
The catch, however, which was expressed unequivocally by Musk, is that as a condition for the donation, the program was tasked with describing – right in the Twitter thread in question, exactly how $6 billion will end global food insecurity. However, that has not happened thus far. In fact, Beasley long ago walked back an earlier statement, attributed to him by CNN, to the effect that if only Elon Musk would donate what amounts to 2% of his enormous wealth to the program, it could end world hunger once and for all. As Beasley tweeted back in October, "$6B will not solve world hunger, but it WILL prevent geopolitical instability, mass migration and save 42 million people on the brink of starvation," per Fortune.
Nevertheless, in a statement to AP on the occasion of the 2022 World Economic Forum now taking place in Davos, Switzerland, Beasley reminded the world the program's still waiting – and not solely for Musk, for that matter.
Attention billionaires of the world, the UN's World Hunger Programme sees you
When Elon Musk set aside nearly $6 billion to help finance the work of an unnamed charity, the head of the UN's World Hunger Programme, David Beasley, may have gotten a bit ahead of himself in thinking that all, or even any, would go to the program (per AP). This happened shortly after Musk discussed making a donation if the program could explain how it would end world hunger (per Fortune). However, the explanation has not happened, and the money has not landed in the hands of the UN program. Although Beasley is still on about Musk's conditional pledge, he, on behalf of the program, is now calling upon billionaires everywhere to "step up." And by step up, he means donate generously to the cause of world hunger.
"Step up now, because the world needs you," Beasley said via AP on the occasion of the 2022 World Economic Forum currently being held in Davos, Switzerland. AP says it is being attended by some of the world's richest individuals, including Musk, who's worth approximately $200 billion, and philanthropically-inclined former Amazon CEO, Jeffrey Bezos, whose net worth falls in the ballpark of $130 billion, according to Forbes. But Musk and Bezos, neither of whom have responded thus far to AP's request for comment, aren't the only billionaires in the world. Beasley's plea is intended for all of them, according to AP.