An organization founded by Bill Gates, Breakthrough Energy, announced Monday it has raised more than $ 1 billion from seven major companies, including Arcelor Mittal, BlackRock and General Motors, to finance the development of clean energy.
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Early participants in this initiative, dubbed “
Catalyst,
” also include American Airlines, Bank of America, Boston Consulting Group, and Microsoft. The sums collected so far are equivalent to more than a billion dollars and have been granted in the form of grants, actions and commitments to acquire the technologies developed, a spokesperson for the organization told AFP.
Launched in June, Catalyst has already forged partnerships with the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, and the US Department of Energy.
The idea is to support the development of new energy solutions to fight against climate change by bringing together the public and private sectors and by financing the stages before commercialization.
Other companies are expected to join the initiative.
Accelerate the deployment of green hydrogen
The project will initially focus on accelerating the deployment of four technologies: direct carbon capture, green hydrogen, long-term energy storage and sustainable fuels for aviation. But he also plans to look at other innovations, to reduce the carbon impact of steel and cement, for example.
“
Avoiding a climate catastrophe will require a new industrial revolution.
Half of the technology needed to reach the zero emission goal does not yet exist or is too expensive for much of the world,
”said Bill Gates in a statement.
“
Catalyst is designed to change that and provide an effective way to invest in our cleantech future,
” added the Microsoft founder-turned-philanthropist.
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Several of the companies involved specified in separate press releases the amounts paid. The foundation of the investment company BlackRock and Microsoft each donated $ 100 million. American Airlines has pledged to invest $ 100 million under the program while ArcelorMittal plans to invest $ 100 million over the next five years through its XCarb Innovations Fund.
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