“Reaching zero emissions will be one of the hardest things humanity has ever done,” Gates declared.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, today presented a “catalyst” to promote technologies with great climate potential such as clean hydrogen, sustainable fuels for aviation or energy storage .
“Reaching zero emissions will be one of the hardest things humanity has ever done,” Gates declared during the signing of an agreement – initially announced last June – that he hopes will serve to “reduce the cost difference between dirty technologies in today and the clean technologies of tomorrow ”.
The initiative, which will also seek to develop CO2 capture and storage, seeks to accelerate technologies that are not yet mature for commercial exploitation or that are not scalable through the mobilization of 820 million euros (1 billion dollars) between 2022 and 2026 of public and private money and donations.
“The climate challenge requires that we invest in high-risk innovations,” said Von der Leyen, at that event scheduled during COP26 in the British town of Glasgow.
In this sense, the Commission plans to obtain funding for this new public-private partnership from the Union’s research and innovation program, baptized as Horizon Europe, and from the Innovation Fund within the framework of the InvestEU program, while the Breakthrough Energy organization, founded for Gates, it will contribute the same amount, they explained.
Both Von der Leyen and Gates pointed out that it is not a contradiction to announce new investments in technology when the fund of 100 billion dollars a year promised by rich countries to developing countries only reaches, for now, 79.600 million, and that it must work “in parallel”.
The president of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Werner Hoyer, an institution that is also participating in the initiative, said that “the world will not reach zero emissions in 2050 with a single silver bullet” and referred to the project as “a way to attract the private sector ”towards financing the energy transition.
The agreement is similar to the one reached between the United Kingdom and Breakthrough Energy, under which a total of 400 million pounds (about 470 million euros) will be mobilized. (I)
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
