Bill Gates has announced the launch of a $1 billion fund, Breakthrough Energy Ventures to invest in clean energy. This fund will invest in scientific breakthroughs that have the potential to deliver cheap and reliable clean energy to the world.
In a new post on his personal blog “a new model for investing in energy Innovation”, he said that he had gathered a group of like minded investors who care a lot about energy innovation to join him in the fund. They include Silicon Valley venture capitalists John Doerr and Vinod Khosla and former hedge manager John Arnold
According to Gates,
It’s the next step in an effort that began last December, when we brought together private investors from around the globe who were passionate about solving this problem. We formed the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a group of entrepreneurs, business leaders, and institutional investors committed to help bring promising new zero-emissions energy technologies to market.
The Coalition partnered with Mission Innovation, an initiative of more than 20 countries and the European Union to double their investment in clean energy research and development in the next five years.
Gates added that the investors are willing to wait a longer time for returns than other funds and they have a higher tolerance for technical risk. This is because they know it’s tough to determine which technologies will succeed in a complicated energy market.
The coalition have identified the five biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions that they want to focus on.
- Electricity: How they can deliver reliable, affordable zero-carbon electricity to the world?
- Buildings: How they can eliminate emissions from our homes, offices, hospitals, and schools?
- Manufacturing: How they can make everything we use without emitting greenhouse gases?
- Transportation: How they can get around our communities and the world without emitting carbon?
- Food: How they can feed the planet without contributing to climate change?
In addition to funding new ventures, Breakthrough Energy investors will help build a broader clean energy ecosystem. They will explore new partnerships with governments, businesses, and institutional investors who want to be part of the global energy transition. Through these partnerships, they will not only help organize more investments, but will also help research new solutions.
