Bill Gates-led investment fund partners with Europe on clean tech

The details: Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a $1 billion fund created in 2015 by Gates and other billionaires, is creating a joint investment vehicle called Breakthrough Energy Europe.

• The fund, which will be worth a total of €100 (roughly $115) million, will invest in European companies working to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
• Half the money will come from the European Commission and the other from the Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

In a blog post accompanying his announcement, Gates said he would be writing more over the next year about what he calls the five grand challenges of addressing climate change, including under-focused areas such as agriculture and manufacturing.

Go deeper:

• Quartz’ Akshat Rathi runs down the companies the Gates-led fund has recently announced it’s funding.
• On Tuesday, Gates signed onto a separate new commission led by former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, World Bank Chief Executive Kristalina Georgieva, raising awareness about adapting to climate change, per this Bloomberg article. Many parts of the world are already experiencing the impacts of a warmer world--and that will continue and increase even if emissions drop suddenly.