Bill Gates' nonprofit partners with 7 firms for clean energy

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) – American business magnate Bill Gates’ nonprofit organization, Breakthrough Energy, announced on Monday it has partnered with seven corporations for its program to accelerate development of climate-smart technologies to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

The partners include American Airlines, Bank of America, Microsoft, General Motors, steel producer ArcelorMittal, investment management firm BlackRock, and management company Boston Consulting Group.

Breakthrough Energy said in a statement that the Catalyst program provides “a new model for public-private sector partnership to help build the foundation of the net-zero economy.”

The program brings together businesses, governments, philanthropies, and individuals to invest in critical climate technologies, initially focusing on four key areas – direct air capture, green hydrogen, long-duration energy storage, and sustainable aviation fuel, read the statement.

Through direct investments, the program and its partners will help reduce the costs of clean energy technologies to compete with and replace their greenhouse gas emitting counterparts, it added.

“Avoiding a climate disaster will require a new industrial revolution. Half the technology needed to get to zero emissions either doesn’t exist yet or is too expensive for much of the world to afford,” Gates said in the statement.

“Catalyst is designed to change that ... [it] will take a global view of the energy innovation landscape – the key technologies, leading-edge companies, financing partners, and pivotal policies – and fund the projects that will have the greatest positive impact for our planet.”

Since it was introduced earlier this year, Catalyst has announced partnerships with the European Commission, European Investment Bank, and the US Department of Energy, according to the statement.