The European Commission and the Breakthrough Energy business, chaired by Bill Gates, signed a protocol of agreement in Brussels on Wednesday 17 October on the creation of Breakthrough Energy Europe (BEE), a joint investment fund intended to help innovative European businesses to develop and market radically new clean energy technologies.
With this initiative, the Commission hopes to show that it is taking action “to continue leading in the fight against climate change and to deliver on the Paris Agreement”, and to promote energy efficiency (see EUROPE 12112).
Speaking of a “very promising” partnership, Bill Gates, who heads Breakthrough Energy Ventures, said his company had already financed 23 projects in the United States in the clean energy field and that he hoped to involve EU companies also. He spoke of the measures to be taken, for example in agriculture, to counter the large methane emissions. “Our production must increase (steel, farming) but we must reduce our emissions”, he said, while pointing to the worrying report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC).
Maros Sefcovic, Commission Vice-President responsible for the Energy Union, welcomed the fact that this new public-private investment structure had been set in place in record time (in just one year).
“Private investors must have decision-making power when it comes to financing”, he told the press. “The Holy Grail of climate transition is storage”, said Sefcovic, who spoke of the solar, wind and hydrogen power sectors. New technologies are also needed to benefit industry. “This is only a beginning, and we hope that there will be further funding in addition to this €100 million envelope”, Sefcovic said.
Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, added that the fund of €100 million will target EU innovators and companies with the potential to achieve significant and lasting reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
The Commission is currently working on developing the long term strategy for greenhouse gas emission reduction. The proposal will be published in November 2018 with a view to the COP24 to be held at Katowice, in Poland. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)