TechDigits

Tech news
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Bill Gates pledges $1.5 billion for infrastructure bill’s new climate projects

Bill Gates pledges $1.5 billion for infrastructure bill’s new climate projects

Gates says his fund could spend money on projects aimed at slowing greenhouse gas emissions

Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates said his climate investment fund will commit $1.5 billion for joint projects with the U.S. government if Congress enacts a program aimed at developing technologies that lower carbon emissions.

A roughly $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed by the Senate this week would give the Energy Department $25 billion for demonstration projects funded through public-private partnerships, part of more than $100 billion to address climate change. The House hasn’t yet approved the legislation.


Mr. Gates, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, said a fund run by his Breakthrough Energy could spend the money over three years on projects aimed at slowing the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause climate change. The Breakthrough projects, which would have to compete with other applicants for the funds, could include emissions-free fuel for planes and technology to suck carbon-dioxide out of the air.

"Critical for all these climate technologies is to get the costs down and to be able to scale them up to a pretty gigantic level," Mr. Gates said. "You’ll never get that scale up unless the government’s coming in with the right policies, and the right policy is exactly what’s in that infrastructure bill."

Breakthrough will likely shift funding for the biggest projects to Europe and Asia instead if the package doesn’t become law, he added.

The Energy Department program hasn’t been a flashpoint in debate over the legislation, but some Republicans have criticized the overall bill for what they see as excessive spending and an increase in federal powers. The bill passed the Senate in a 69-30 vote Tuesday, with only Republicans opposed. "Washington must learn to live within its means," said a statement this week from Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the top Republican on the Senate Energy Committee.

To address climate change, the bill includes more than $100 billion for programs that improve the electrical grid, harden infrastructure against natural disasters and subsidize a transition to emissions-free cars, trucks and buses.

The public-private partnership program is one way the bill embraces industrial policy, the idea that governments direct critical industries rather than leaving things to the market.

Gregory Nemet, a University of Wisconsin professor who has written a book about recent innovation in solar power, said the policy shift will put pressure on government officials who will have to sort through complex market dynamics while managing demands from companies seeking profits and lawmakers pushing for home-state handouts.

Industrial policy "is really a good way of accelerating innovation, but it’s risky because it goes beyond anything we’ve done in the last four decades," Mr. Nemet said, referring to the U.S.

Public-private partnerships have helped commercialize nascent energy technology before, going back to the U.S. nuclear-power industry in the mid-20th century. But the results were mixed and politically controversial when financial-crisis recovery funds went to similar efforts at the Energy Department a decade ago.

Some of those funds guaranteed a loan to Solyndra LLC, a solar panel maker that later went bankrupt, turning the deal into a political attack point for the Energy Department’s critics. The agency also loaned funds to Tesla Inc., the electric car maker that is now one of the world’s most valuable companies.

"Our political leaders have to accept that there’s going to be some failure," said David Hart, senior fellow at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a science and technology policy think tank. "Ultimately there has to be a climate policy that creates this market."

Mr. Gates hopes that in addition to federal funds, the $1.5 billion will attract other investors to raise as much as $15 billion for various projects. Mr. Gates will provide some of the initial funds through a Breakthrough program called Catalyst, which is also in the process of raising money from others, he said.

After Tuesday’s Senate vote, a coalition of the biggest auto and utility trade groups and several environmental groups made an announcement similar to the one by Mr. Gates. Their joint National EV Charging Initiative would spur and coordinate investments in projects that become part of the legislation’s $7.5 billion program to install more charging stations for electric vehicles.

The fact that these pledges are being announced even before Congress approves the funding is a sign of support in the business community for these programs, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a joint interview with Mr. Gates.

"It shows that the private sector is ready to lead the fight to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and achieve [an emissions-free] economy in partnership with government," she said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

TechDigits
0:00
0:00
Close
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The future of sports
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
UK Crypto and Stablecoin Regulations Become Law as Royal Assent is Granted
A Delaware city wants to let businesses vote in its elections
Alef Aeronautics Achieves Historic Milestone with Flight Certification for World's First Flying Car
Google Blocked Access to Canadian News in Response to New Legislation
French Politicians Advocate for Pan-European Regulation on Social Media Influencers
Melinda French Gates Advocates for Increased Female Representation in AI to Prevent Bias
Snapchat+ gains 4 million paying subscribers in its first year
Apple Makes History as the First Public Company Valued at $3 Trillion
Elon Musk Implements Twitter Limits to Tackle Data Scraping, but Faces Criticism for Technical Misunderstanding
EU and UK's Slow Electric Vehicle Adoption Raises Questions About the Transition to Green Mobility
Top Companies Express Concerns Over Europe's Proposed AI Law, Citing Competitiveness and Investment Risks
Meta Unveils Insights on AI Usage in Facebook and Instagram, Amid Growing Calls for Transparency
Crypto Scams Against Seniors Soar by 78% in 2022, Experts Urge Vigilance
The End of an Era: National Geographic Dismisses Last of Its Staff Writers
Shield Your Wallet: The Perils of Wireless Credit Card Theft
Harvard Scientist Who Studies Honesty Accused Of Data Fraud, Put On Leave
Putting an End to the Subscription Snare: The Battle Against Unwitting Commitments
The Legal Perils of AI: Lawyer Faces Sanctions for Relying on Fictional Cases Generated by Chatbot
ChatGPT’s "Grandma Exploit": Ingenious Hack Exposes Loophole in AI, Generates Free Software Codes
The Disney Downturn: A Near Billion-Dollar Box Office Blow for the House of Mouse
A Digital Showdown: Canada Challenges Tech Giants with The Online News Act, Meta Strikes Back
Distress in the Depths: Submersible and Passengers Missing in Titanic Wreckage Expedition
Mark Zuckerberg stealing another idea: Twitter
European Union's AI Regulations Risk Self-Sabotage, Cautions smart and brave Venture Capitalist Joe Lonsdale
Nvidia GPUs are so hard to get that rich venture capitalists are buying them for the startups they invest in
Chinese car exports surge
Reddit Blackout: Thousands of Communities Protest "Ludicrous" Pricing Changes
Nvidia Joins Tech Giants as First Chipmaker to Reach $1 Trillion Valuation
AI ‘extinction’ should be same priority as nuclear war – experts
×