Mercuria's Marco Dunand Pledges Half Fortune to Charity

Marco Dunand, co-owner of Mercuria and one of the world's top oil traders, has committed to donating at least half of his $1.5 billion wealth to charitable causes by joining the Giving Pledge. Dunand and his wife plan to support energy transition and biodiversity through contributions to the Villars Institute.

A co-owner of one of the world's top oil traders Mercuria, Marco Dunand, has pledged to give at least half his wealth of around $1.5 billion to charitable causes by joining the Giving Pledge community of philanthropists, the community and Mercuria said.

The community was founded in 2010 by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffet and currently has over 240 signatories from 30 countries. The philanthropists make a public, moral commitment to give the majority of their wealth to charitable causes, either during their lifetimes or in their wills.

Oil traders such as Mercuria and their rivals Vitol, Trafigura and Gunvor saw a spike in profits in the last two years after the European Union cut imports of Russian energy following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Mercuria made a profit of $2.7 billion in 2023, down about 10% from record earnings of 2022.

Dunand, who is a Swiss national, and his wife Suzan Craig Dunand, who is from New Zealand, will commit at least half their wealth to energy transition and biodiversity. That will include contributions to the Villars Institute, which they co-founded in 2022, a Swiss non-profit foundation dedicated to advancing the transition to a net-zero and nature-positive economy.

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