Dive Brief:
- Bill Gates plans to launch a multi-billion-dollar clean energy research and development initiative today.
- The initiative will require countries to commit to doubling their clean energy technology research and development budgets by 2020. Private investors will boost their own investments.
- Gates announced the Clean Tech Initiative at the opening day of the U.N. climate change summit in Paris.
Dive Insight:
Gates recently pledged $2 billion of his personal money over the next five years to aid in climate change efforts. He said accelerating government funding for clean energy research and development is crucial to attracting private investment.
Gates planned to join Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, U.S. President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande to announce the initiative.
Access to clean energy technology will play a key role in a global agreement to combat climate change, explained Gates, so the initiative will focus on how to improve clean technologies and give some of the poorest countries access to them.India, the world's third largest greenhouse gas emitter, has argued that developed countries need to help poorer countries gain access to renewable energy or zero-emission technologies.
