Microsoft founder Bill Gates is set to launch a brand new clean energy initiative ahead of the UN Paris Climate Change Summit today.
The multi-billion dollar project, Initiative Cleantech, will focus on both research and development of clean energy production and will work alongside other government projects and existing plans in order to boost the use and viability of green energy all over the globe.
World governments will be meeting to discuss the impact of policy on climate change and to try and work out a genuine solution to the growing issue.
Initiative Cleantech will be developed and announced by Gates in cahoots with world leaders Barack Obama, Fracoise Hollande and Narendra Modi today, as the two week climate change summit begins in Paris. Gates met with Modi and Hollande back in September as plans were in their nascent stages.
Bill Gate’s involvement represents important private sector investment from now the richest man in the world – something that is sure to bolster the efforts of governments worldwide to great effect.
He has promised to put at least $2 billion towards helping to “bend the curve” towards positive climate change over the next five years.
India’s Prime Minister, Modi, has come out saying how happy he is to have this private investment from Gates. A spokesman for him released a statement saying that “with people like him getting involved, there is a real possibility of there being private-sector partnerships on the technology side.”
Modi has been championing the drive for green energy recently as it emerged that India is currently the world’s third worst emitter of greenhouse gases. He has urged more developed countries to support and help sidestep the financial cost of poorer countries’ efforts in trying to cut down on emissions. Modi has announced tackling climate change as at the core of his latest policies and is expected to elaborate further on his plans during talks today.
We will be reporting further on exactly what comes out of talks in Paris as the weeks progress.
A particular spotlight will be placed on England by spectators across the globe, following the questionable policy changes and subsidy cuts announce by energy secretary Amber Rudd that have led to a downgrade of our energy efficiency status as a nation from AAA to AAB.