NEW YORK/WASHINGTON/LONDON ¨C Bill Gates, the world¡¯s richest man, led a group of philanthropists in vowing to plow $2 billion into clean energy through personal investments and a new fund to be set up next year.
Gates, co-founder of Microsoft Corp., will be joined by 26 private investors and the University of California in the so- called Breakthrough Energy Coalition, he said in a briefing Monday as United Nations climate talks begin in Paris. Other contributors include Africa¡¯s richest man, Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote; Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Chairman and founder Jack Ma and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman.
When people focus on changing the world¡¯s energy systems to eliminate carbon emissions, ¡°the real question is what sort of premium cost is there?¡± Gates said. By directing ¡°significant resources¡± toward research, ¡°I get optimistic we can bring that premium down to zero and really solve the problem.¡±
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