More than 20 of the worlds richest and most influential people have come together to form the Breakthrough Energy Coalition. Business and finance luminaries from all across the globe, including Mukesh Ambani, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Ray Dalio, Jack Ma, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, George Soros and more than a dozen others, have joined the new alternative energy-focused nonprofit organization, as reported by ValueWalk Sunday night.
Gates, Dalio, Bezos and more than two dozen other investors form the Breakthrough Energy Coalition https://t.co/PHzGAqKq80
— ValueWalk (@valuewalk) November 30, 2015
Twenty of the largest and most wealthy nations in the world have also signed onto the coalition.
Breakthrough Energy Coalition supports research and innovation
The BEC is all about promoting alternative energy research. The organization’s mission statement and principles gets right to the point:
“THE WORLD NEEDS WIDELY AVAILABLE ENERGY that is reliable, affordable and does not produce carbon. The only way to accomplish that goal is by developing new tools to power the world. That innovation will result from a dramatically scaled up public research pipeline linked to truly patient, flexible investments committed to developing the technologies that will create a new energy mix. The Breakthrough Energy Coalition is working together with a growing group of visionary countries who are significantly increasing their public research pipeline through the Mission Innovation initiative to make that future a reality.”
The coalition is advocating for a pioneering new energy research model. The model involves a public-private partnership between governments, research institutions, and major investors. The goal is for scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs to invent and scale up innovative technologies to minimize emissions (and limit climate change) to provide affordable and reliable energy worldwide. The current model of basic research and clean energy investment is too enmeshed in regulatory frameworks and subsidies to sufficiently bring forward investment in transformative energy solutions.
The founders of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition argue the key here is large funding commitments for basic and applied research, and that governments must step up to play a major role. Government investment in research can develop new technologies to advance the common good, which are then moved forward by private capital. Government-funded research programs in space, defense, technology, and medical research has led to huge successes that underpin much of modern life today.
Breakthrough Energy Coalition claims that the political will is emerging for the major alternative energy investment project, but that current governmental funding levels for clean energy are far below what is required to meet the challenges of the near future.
More on BEC’s Mission Innovation initiative
The BEC’s website notes that the the 20 participating countries are working todouble governmental and/or state-directed clean energy research and development investment over the next five years. These new investment funds will be used to develop transformational clean energy technology innovations scalable to a wide variety of economic and energy market conditions.
To date 28 investors from 10 countries have become a part of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition to commit to investing long-term capital in early-stage technology projects originating in Mission Innovation countries. The new investments will be guided by a set of Principles, and will be designed to include broad business participation in the commercialization of these new clean energy technologies.
The countries have all agreed to implement Mission Innovation technologies in a transparent and efficient manner. All have committed to working within existing international institutions, and to cooperate to assist governments, private investors and innovators by making data, technology expertise and analysis readily available to all to promote commercialization and broad implementation of clean energy
Energy production the main culprit in carbon emissions that lead to global warming
A new white paper from Microsoft’s Bill Gates highlights that energy production is the biggest sources of CO2 emissions that cause global warming. The introduction to the paper notes: “By far the biggest source of emissions is the production of energy, which accounts for around two thirds of all greenhouse gases produced by human activity. Although using energy more efficiently can help, the only way to dramatically reduce or eliminate global carbon emissions is to switch to sources that do not emit carbon.”
See full PDF below.
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