TECH

European Union and Bill Gates invest 100 million euros to finance clean energy projects

With a capitalization of EUR 100 million, the fund will focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting energy efficiency in the electricity, transport, agriculture, manufacturing and European Union (EU), according to a communiqué from the EU executive.The BEE - which is expected to be operational next year and combines public funding and long-term risk capital - will support innovative European companies in the development of "radically new technologies in the field of clean energy and to ensure their introduction into the market," an announcement.Half of the fund's equity will be provided by Breakthrough Energy and the other half by the InnovFin risk-sharing financial instruments, funded by Horizon 2020."We have to reduce emissions until we get to zero emissions, and the answer to that is innovation," Bill Gates said after the signing of the memorandum of understanding launched today by the BEE."Here in Europe there are many scientists with good ideas and we want to find them," stressing that the new type of funding is "a public-private partnership."For his part, the European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, Carlos Moedas, stressed that "the partnership between the EU and Bill Gates is the way to the future".The BEE is a pilot project that could be extended to other áreas.



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