EIB President Hoyer and Bill Gates. Picture: EIB website.
Most green technologies are still more expensive than the systems they’re trying to replace, and they don’t do a better job providing energy. In many cases, they do a poorer job. Clean jet fuel, for example, provides less energy per gallon than the conventional stuff, and it costs a lot more.
This is bad news for the fight against climate change. The world needs to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and reaching that point will take inventing and deploying many more clean-energy products. Products aren’t getting cheaper or better fast enough, and the market isn’t growing as fast as it could.
To accelerate innovation, we need a new model for financing and producing clean-energy technology. This is why Bill Gates-led Breakthrough Energy created a financing program called Catalyst. The tool will attract major investors and make a big difference for technologies such as long-duration energy storage, sustainable aviation fuels, carbon dioxide removal systems and green hydrogen.
Bill Gates explains on his blog how Catalyst and the European Investment Bank will work with the European Commission to mobilise up to $1 billion for innovation in green projects.
This article was first published on July 13 by European Investment Bank.
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