UK PM Boris Johnson and Bill Gates launch a £400m investment in green technology

Announced at the Global Investment Summit, the investment matches a pledge made by the UK government to accelerate the development of these cutting-edge technologies with the goal of bringing the UK to net-zero emissions by 2050.

Catalyst is a new model of partnership between the public-private sector that assembles governments, businesses, individuals, and philanthropists to invest in revolutionary climate technologies. Green hydrogen, long-term energy storage, sustainable aviation fuels and direct air capture are the four areas that the program is focused on.

As part of the £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio 10 Point Plan for Green Industrial Revolution, the UK government has already dedicated more than £200m for the development, demonstration, and deployment of projects in these areas.

“I think these are all technologies that have massive potential but are currently underinvested in, by comparison with some others,” Johnson said.

“We will only achieve our ambitious climate goals if we rapidly scale up new technologies in areas like green hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuels – technologies that seemed impossible just a few years ago.”

“Ahead of the Cop26, this new partnership with Catalyst is a boost to the UK’s vision for a green industrial revolution,” added Johnson. “It will help to bring innovative technologies to market globally while building new skills and creating high-quality jobs across the UK.”

Bill Gates completed: “We will scale those up and bring down that cost, so we’ll
get these to the same place we are today with solar and onshore wind, and so they can be scaled up to reduce emissions”.

“Our partnership with the UK will accelerate the deployment of these critical climate solutions, helping to make them more affordable and accessible,” Gates added. “In order to achieve net-zero emissions, we need to reduce the costs of clean technologies so they can compete with and replace the high-emitting products we use today – I call this difference in price the green premium.”

The Prime Minister and Bill Gates are taking part in a discussion on global energy transition at the Summit, just weeks ahead of COP26, which begins in Glasgow on 31^st October.

“We should be using this moment, collectively as governments, to leverage in the trillions of the market, creating the country platforms that will not only tackle climate change but deliver green jobs and green growth around the world,” he said. The Global Investment Summit brought the world’s biggest investors to the UK and Boris Johnson has announced that deals worth £9.7bn have been made.