The nonprofit Breakthrough Energy of Bill Gates is partnering with seven companies to develop clean energy technology, the public group announced on Monday.
The seven firm American Airlines, ArcelorMittal, Bank of America, BlackRock Foundation, Boston Consulting Group, General Motors and Microsoft will make direct investments to Breakthrough Energy's Catalyst initiative. The program aims to simplify clean energy transition to achieve zero carbon emissions economy by 2050.
Would a new industrial revolution really work against climate change? Half the technology required to get to zero emissions either doesn t exist yet or is too expensive for much of the world to afford. Catalyst was designed to change that and have an effective way to invest in the future of clean technologies. American Airlines, ArcelorMittal, Blackrock and Microsoft each shared at least $100 million in assistance to the effort. The commitment from all seven partners exceeds $1 billion in grants, equity capital and purchase orders, Bloomberg reported.
Breakthrough Energy said Catalyst would initially focus on four areas of research: direct air capture, sustainable hydrogen, long-duration energy storage and green aviation fuel.
We see enormous promise in the mission of Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, and our investment is a vote of confidence in the unique and collaborative potential of this exceptional and collaboration-making approach, said American Airlines Chairman and CEO Doug Parker in a statement.
Gates announced the nonprofit in 2015 and founded Catalyst earlier this year. The program also has partnerships with the European Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy.
The latest partnerships were announced as President of the Biden administration pushes the private sector to reduce carbon emissions. President Biden has set a target of cutting carbon emissions by 50-52% by 2030 in the United States.