The UK government has launched a green investment partnership with Bill Gates to mobilize millions of private sector funding over the next decade.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Bill Gates announced the £400 million partnership between the UK government and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst. The new investment plan is meant to drive investment into the next generation of ground-breaking clean energy technologies.
Johnson said the deal will help power “a green industrial revolution”, and help to create emerging technologies, many of which are currently too expensive to be commercially viable or successful.
However, the technologies are essential to the UK government’s climate goals, and Johnson claims the new deal will help make it possible. Johnson also said the partnership would help the UK develop technology related to carbon capture and storage, zero-carbon aviation, green hydrogen, and long-term battery life.
The UK has pledged at least £200 million to developing green technologies. Gates announced he would match this commitment, through the organization Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, an umbrella organization founded by Gates to accelerate innovation in sustainable energy.
The organization is a coalition of private investors that Gates leads in funding approaches to help solve the climate crisis.
The announcement came at the Global Investment Summit at the Science Museum on Tuesday. Johnson said that the new UK-Catalyst partnership is a boost to the country’s vision for a “green industrial revolution,” and praised its timing ahead of the upcoming UN Climate Conference, known as Cop26.
Cop26 begins in Glasgow at the end of this month, lasting for the first half of November. World leaders, as well as international business elite and industry leaders, will come together to produce solutions for the ongoing climate crisis.
Johnson said the time was now for governments and the private sector to work together to commercialize green technology.
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