European Commission has partnered with Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Catalyst and European Investment Bank to
E.U. The President of European Commission – Ursula von der Leyen has announced a “European Union (E.U.) Catalyst Partnership” with Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Catalyst and European Investment Bank (EIB), to boost investment in clean climate technologies in Europe.
The idea of this partnership was first discussed by Ursula and Bill Gates in June 2021. The announcement is made during the 2nd day of 26th edition of U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP26), which is being held from October 31 to November 12, 2021.
Breakthrough Energy is the umbrella name of several organizations, founded by Bill Gates in 2015, to accelerate innovation in sustainable energy and in other technologies to reduce greenhouse gas
The partnership will mobilise up to € 820 million (U.S. $ 1 billion) between 2022-2026 to accelerate the deployment and rapidly commercialise innovative technologies that will help deliver on the European Green Deal ambitions and the EU’s 2030 climate targets. Each euro of public funds is expected to leverage three euros of private funds. Investments will be directed towards a portfolio of EU-based projects with high potential in clean hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuels, direct air capture and long-duration energy storage.
Taking it to twitter, Ursula tweeted,
Glad to launch the #EUCatalystPartnership with @BillGates & @EIB's Werner Hoyer.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) November 2, 2021
This $1 billion programme will boost investments in climate technologies such as sustainable aviation fuel.
Can't wait to see the technologies emerging with the Catalyst! https://t.co/svKLb2fiqL
Talking about the investment, Bill Gates tweeted,
.@Breakthrough Energy Catalyst is bringing together private and public sector leaders to invest in innovation and accelerate clean technologies. @Citi, @IKEAFoundation, and @StateFarm are joining our efforts to help fund solutions that will ignite a green industrial revolution. https://t.co/nA0STTqaI1
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) November 2, 2021
The EIB also tweeted,
Proud to launch the Catalyst Initiative with @BillGates, @Breakthrough & the @EU_Commission at #COP26. It will mobilise up to $1bn between 2022-2026 to boost investments in #Climate technologies & help deliver #EUGreenDeal ambitions▶https://t.co/DZ2jFDEGbt #EIBatCOP26 pic.twitter.com/YgrByzCzjm
— European Investment Bank (@EIB) November 2, 2021
The E.U. Catalyst Partnership will target technologies which have recognised potential and are expensive to roll out at scale and compete with fossil fuel-based technologies. The projects will be large-scale, pre-commercial demonstration projects for clean technologies. They will create employment opportunities and will spill over effects within the relevant ecosystems.
The partnership will drive down their ‘green premium’, in other words reduce their costs to a level that is eventually competitive with fossil-fuel based options. This will help to accelerate their adoption worldwide and end the current reliance of these technologies on public support schemes.
It will bring together the public and private sectors to invest in large-scale demonstration projects. Both Breakthrough Energy Catalyst and EIB will provide equivalent amounts of grants and investments in the projects. EU funding for the partnership will be drawn from Horizon Europe and the Innovation Fund and will be managed under InvestEU.
The final decision on awarding E.U. funds to projects will be governed under InvestEU and entrusted to the European Investment Bank, which will carry out an independent assessment of projects.
