September 20, 2021


Bill Gates raised more than $1 billion in corporate funding for Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, drawing on BlackRock Inc.’s Larry Fink and Microsoft Corp.’s Satya Nadella to rally support for some of the world’s most demanding clean-energy projects.

BlackRock is making a five-year, $100 million grant from its charitable foundation. Microsoft also is donating $100 million. The other backers -- General Motors Co., Bank of America Corp., American Airlines Group Inc., Boston Consulting Group and ArcelorMittal SA -- are providing a mix of equity capital and so-called offtakes, or purchase agreements tied to the projects.
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Gates, who has estimated the cost of reaching net-zero emissions at $50 trillion, is hoping his program becomes a model for public-private cooperation to address the threat of climate change.
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In August, Catalyst agreed to raise $1.5 billion in return for billions more in support, some of it contingent on legislation, from the U.S. Department of Energy. Separately, Catalyst committed $500 million in June in return for matching funds from the European Commission and European Investment Bank for a similar effort across the Atlantic.


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...an-energy-push