Bill Gates touts Mission Innovation green plan
Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates unveiled plans Monday by an international coalition to invest billions of dollars in clean-energy projects to combat global warming.
Gates unveiled the initiative on the opening day of the summit on climate talks alongside President Obama, French President François Hollande and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Among the 20 countries that agreed to participate in the program called Mission Innovation are France, the U.S., India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Canada and Norway. Joining them will be a group of 28 international investors, including Marc Benioff, chairman and chief executive of Salesforce.com; Virgin Group founder Richard Branson; and Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia.
The countries pledged to double investment in low or no-carbon energy research.
At the same time, Gates said investors will support companies that bring innovative cleanenergy ideas to the marketplace. That alliance will be called the Breakthrough Energy Coalition.
The project will focus on technologies that permit better use of clean energy from wind and solar, even when there’s no wind or sunshine.
Gates, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes at about $80 billion, said last summer he would invest about $1 billion over the next five years to clean-energy projects.