The world needs to deploy and scale technologies that cut emissions—and fast. Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), a USD 1 billion fund led by Bill Gates, aims to fund those technologies. Founded in 2016, the fund’s pursuits are supported by Gates’s billionaire friends, including Reliance’s Mukesh Ambani, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, Virgin’s Richard Branson, Alibaba’s Jack Ma, and SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son, according to qz.com. Recently, the fund moved more towards startups.
To be eligible for BEV’s money, a startup needs to showcase a scientifically sound technology that has the potential to reduce annual global greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 500 million metric tons. Global emissions currently measure about 40 billion metric tons a year.
In the 12 months since the last tranche of investments, BEV has found 10 more companies that it thinks could help the world cut emissions drastically.