Breakthrough Energy, a non-profit organization created by Bill Gates, announced raising nearly $1 billion for its Breakthrough Energy Catalyst Project.
The focus will be to develop clean energy technologies.
Investors include American Airlines, Bank of America, General Motors, BlackRock, Boston Consulting Group, ArcelorMittal, and Microsoft.
“Preventing a climate disaster will require a new industrial revolution. Half of the technology needed to reach zero emissions either does not exist yet or is too expensive for much of the world to pay for it. Catalyst is designed to change that and provide an effective way to invest in our cleantech future.”
Gates believes public and private partnerships are what the world needs to be able to combat climate change. Only then is a net-zero future possible. Additional partners include the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, and the US Department of Energy.
According to Gates, he created Breakthrough Energy to have “…a global view of the energy innovation landscape: key technologies, leading-edge companies, critical financial and policy partners, and financing projects that have the greatest benefits for our planet.”
Breakthrough Energy is focused on producing and acquiring new climate-smart technologies that will create a zero-carbon economy by 2050. Projects include direct air capture, green hydrogen, long-life energy storage, and sustainable aviation fuel.
Leaders worldwide have recommitted to meeting net-zero emissions, and as the earth continues to warm, they really have no choice but to.
For every temperature the globe increases, life within it becomes unsustainable. Resources become limited, mass migration takes place, and weather patterns become more extreme. All people will be affected in one way or another. Most already are. The time to act is now.
With billions being poured into emerging technologies and the global carbon markets booming, there is hope for a cleaner, cooler future ahead.
