Elon Musk, the richest human on planet Earth, has entered a Twitter spat with the head of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) over suggestions that a small percentage of his hoards of wealth could help address world hunger.

The Twitterstorm started when David Beasley, director of the WFP, speaking to CNN's Connect the World, said a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals could help solve world hunger with just a fraction of their net worth, noting they need to "step up now, on a one-time basis.”

"$6 billion to help 42 million people that are literally going to die if we don't reach them. It's not complicated," he said.

In response to a headline of this article, Musk said: “If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it.”

Beasley replied saying that headline was slightly inaccurate: the sum of money would not categorically solve world hunger, but it would help prevent “geopolitical instability, mass migration, and save 42 million people on the brink of starvation.” Beasley says all of these problems have been deepened by climate change, war, and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“With your help we can bring hope, build stability and change the future,” tweeted Beasly, directly tagging Musk. “Let’s talk: It isn’t as complicated as Falcon Heavy, but too much at stake to not at least have a conversation. I can be on the next flight to you. Throw me out if you don’t like what you hear!”

Musk, however, was not convinced and continued to challenge Beasley, tweeting back: “Please publish your current & proposed spending in detail so people can see exactly where money goes.”

“Sunlight is a wonderful thing,” Musk added.

Despite Musk’s requests, the WFP already publishes internal audit reports of its spending in each country annually. 

The WFP is the UN body used in the fight against global hunger. It does this by delivering food aid to vulnerable communities, especially in times of crisis, as well as aiming to support food supply chains and infrastructure. Its ultimate aim is to achieve a world without hunger by 2030.

The agency has received both praise and criticism in recent years. The Nobel Peace Prize in 2020 was awarded to the WFP "for its efforts to combat hunger" and providing food assistance to war-torn areas. Conversely, the WFP does have many flaws. As Musk pointed out, an internal survey of staff at the WFP in 2019 revealed hundreds of allegations of abuse, including rape and sexual assault.

Although Musk can be generous when he wishes, this isn't the first time he has expressed a strong desire to keep hold of his many, many billions of dollars. Just last week, he argued against the idea of heavily taxing the uber-wealthy because it will slow down his ultimate goal of colonizing Mars with humans.

Meanwhile, Musk's net-worth reportedly soared to a vertigo-inducing $288.6 billion last week.