The UK administration has unveiled plans to establish a £400 million investment package in collaboration with US entrepreneur Bill Gates to accelerate the deployment of new green technology. Boris Johnson stated that the agreement will help spark a “green industrial revolution” and create new solutions that are now far too unaffordable to be economically viable but are critical to the government’s climate ambitions. On Tuesday, The PM stated at a Global Investment Summit held at the Science Museum in London, that the collaboration will contribute to the development of UK technologies linked to long-term battery life, carbon capture, and storage, jet zero (zero-carbon aircraft), as well as green hydrogen tech.
“I believe these are all innovations with enormous promise but are now under-resourced in contrast to others,” Johnson added. “We will only be able to meet our ambitious renewable energy objectives if we swiftly scale-up innovative technologies such as green hydrogen as well as ecological aircraft fuels; solutions that appeared unattainable just a few years ago.” The United Kingdom has already committed at least £200 million to the invention of innovative British green technology. On Tuesday, Gates said that he will equal the pledge through Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, a group of private investors that he heads in supporting creative methods to address the issue of climate change.
“This new cooperation with Breakthrough Energy Catalyst is a stimulus to the UK’s goal for a green industrial revolution forward of COP26,” the prime minister added. “It will assist to bring breakthrough technology to consumers throughout the world, while also developing new expertise as well as generating massive employment across the UK.” Gates stated that he would collaborate with the UK government to identify initiatives that would be supported by the investment venture. “We will scale them up and reduce these expenses, meaning we can get all these to the same position we are now at with photovoltaic as well as wind energy, and they can be ramped up to cut emissions,” he added.
Gates elaborated, “To reach net pollutants, we must lower the costs of green solutions so that they can coexist with and substitute the high-emitting commodities we use currently, I refer to this price differential as the green premium.” The Microsoft co-founder hailed the United Kingdom for making “enormous accomplishments” in decreasing carbon emissions and enacting regulations that aided science. Speaking ahead of COP26, which commences on October 31 in Glasgow, Johnson told a meeting of the world’s business elite that the moment had come for the administration to work with the private industry to commercialize green technologies.
“We should use this opportunity, together as countries, to harness trillions of dollars in the market, establishing national foundations that will not only combat global warming but also create green employment and green growth throughout the world,” he added. “I can spend billions, with the consent of the chancellor, of course, however gentlemen, in this conference we can invest trillions,” Johnson remarked, referring to the more than 200 corporate executives and entrepreneurs attending this conference, who collectively managed USD 24 trillion in investments. “I would like to say to each one of those dollars, you will be extremely welcomed to the United Kingdom, and you have arrived at the right location at the right moment.”
