Bill Gates, the world’s former richest man, has just announced his new plan to save the planet. Mr Gates and his billionaire cronies have launched the new venture firm, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, bringing cleantech back in the spotlight. Not a moment too soon if you ask me! Hot on the heels of Google’s announcement of its ambitious plans to be completely carbon neutral by 2017, Breakthrough Energy Ventures aims “to provide everyone in the world with access to reliable, affordable power, food, goods, transportation and services without contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.”
With climate-sceptic Donald set to take over the White House in January and his appointment of an equally sceptical Scott Pruitt in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency, it is a good job cleantech has come back. Bill Gates and his friends are planning on pouring over $1 billion into cleantech companies over the next 20 years. It has the opportunity to change the rate of global warming and climate change but also bring about new developments in technology for the benefit of not just those in direct need, but also climate conscious consumers. Billions will be spent on researching and developing the latest clean technologies that can be deployed throughout the world, for the benefit of the world. New ideas, start-ups, established enterprises and the super-rich looking to invest their money in something more meaningful are the ones placed to bring about rapid change for the better, without having to rely on government investment or policy to get things moving.
The science is there and the evidence is overwhelming. With the introduction of BEV, the Paris Climate Agreement and the growing awareness from the public and big businesses of the need for rapid change in order to save the environment and improve the climate, technology companies and start-ups are ideally poised to take the next great leap that could benefit billions of people.
This post was first published Nick Ringrow, Account Manager at Spreckley, on Spreckley’s blog.