EU and Bill Gates team up in $1bn investment push for clean tech

The European Commission announced a partnership with Bill Gates’ sustainable energy funding vehicle in a move to try and generate new investments for clean tech and sustainable energy projects totalling up to $1bn over five years.

EU-based projects the partnership will focus on initially fall into four sectors: Green hydrogen; Sustainable aviation fuels; Direct air capture; Long-duration energy storage.

The goal was to scale technologies which were currently too expensive to compete with fossil fuel-based incumbent technologies.

Gates's vehicle, Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, was a financing program within his organization aimed at accelerating the development and adoption of technologies needed to underpin a low-carbon economy.

The program was to be set up in the coming months with a special announcement expected to be made at the COP-26 conference in November.

The partnership would also be open to national investments by EU Member States through InvestEU or at project level, the Commission noted.

It wasn't the first time that Gates partnered with Brussels, having done so back in 2019, when they established a €100m fund.

The bloc is a major emitter of CO2 but has committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, under the European Green Deal.

Commenting on the partnership announcement in a statement, EU president Ursula von der Leyen, said: “With our European Green Deal, Europe wants to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. And Europe has also the great opportunity to become the continent of climate innovation.

“For this, the European Commission will mobilise massive investments in new and transforming industries over the next decade. This is why I’m glad to join forces with Breakthrough Energy.

“Our partnership will support EU businesses and innovators to reap the benefits of emission-reducing technologies and create the jobs of tomorrow.”

For his part, Gates, founder of Breakthrough Energy, added: “Decarbonising the global economy is the greatest opportunity for innovation the world has ever seen. Europe will play a critical role, having demonstrated an early and consistent commitment to climate and longstanding leadership in science, engineering, and technology. Through this partnership, Europe will lay solid ground for a net-zero future in which clean technologies are reliable, available, and affordable for all."