Mercuria Co-Owner Marco Dunand Commits Half His Wealth to Charitable Causes

Marco Dunand, co-owner of top oil trader Mercuria, has pledged to donate at least half of his $1.5 billion wealth to charitable causes by joining the Giving Pledge community. Dunand and his wife will focus on energy transition and biodiversity, including supporting the Villars Institute, a Swiss non-profit they co-founded.

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 Buffett 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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