Global Citizen Live concert raises $1.1 billion to fight poverty

The Global Citizen Live charity event netted more than $1.1 billion in commitments and pledges to fight extreme poverty. 

The 24-hour concert featured performances across six continents from music legends such as Elton John and Stevie Wonder and pop stars Jennifer Lopez and Billie Eilish while raking in donations and emissions pledges from philanthropic organizations and corporations alike. 

The U.S. pledged $295 million for humanitarian needs caused by the coronavirus pandemic. 

Governments such as Ireland, Croatia and France pledged to donate coronavirus vaccines amid calls for global vaccine equity, The Associated Press reported. 

“This year, the world is expected to produce enough doses to meet the target of vaccinating 70 percent of people in every single country,” Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, said to the Central Park crowd during an onstage appearance with Prince Harry “But it is wrong that so much of the vaccine supply has only gone to just 10 wealthy nations so far and not everyone else.”

Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex joined us at #GlobalCitizenLive to call for waiving IP rights & sharing technology to allow developing countries to produce vaccines by + for themselves. That’s how we will end the pandemic.
See more: https://t.co/MwS2oJNrWB pic.twitter.com/lgCV24NBeF

— Global Citizen ⭕ (@GlblCtzn) September 27, 2021

Slightly more than 45 percent of the world’s population has been fully vaccinated. But data shows a significant disparity between wealthy nations and lower- and middle-income countries. About 2.2 percent of the latter group has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose.  

Global Citizen’s chief executive, Hugh Evans, told the AP that the charity concert was absolutely vital, as the pandemic put 150 million more people in extreme poverty in 2021 and 41 million people in Africa on the brink of starvation.   

Other donors include Namati, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which collectively pledged $20 million in seed funding to launch the Legal Empowerment Fund, according to the AP. The Lego Foundation committed $150 million to UNICEF. 

More than a dozen corporations, including Procter & Gamble, Starbucks, Delta Air Lines, American Express and Citi, joined the Race to Zero Campaign, which aims to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.