Partnerships with like-minded organisations such as Breakthrough Energy, an initiative set up by Bill Gates, are a core element of the EIB’s approach to combating climate change.
How partnerships confront climate change
Global challenges such as climate change are so vast and complex that all sectors of society from the public sector, to industry, individuals and civil society need to mobilise to confront them. As the world’s population hits eight billion this year on its way to more than ten billion by 2060, new technologies will be needed to slash carbon emissions while feeding and sustaining the growing ranks of humanity.
As the bank of the European Union, the European Investment Bank is committed to funding innovation and projects that further these existential policy goals. But we cannot do it alone. Partnering with like-minded organisations is a core element of our strategy.
Breakthrough Energy, an initiative founded by Bill Gates, is one such like-minded partner. Launched in 2015 with a coalition of private investors that includes some of the richest people on the planet, such as Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Ma, Mukesh Ambani, Michael Bloomberg and Richard Branson, Breakthrough Energy aims to support innovation towards a net-zero emission economy. It runs investment funds and advisory initiatives to catalyse private investment in potentially game-changing, low-carbon technologies.
Our cooperation began in 2018 following talks between Breakthrough Energy and the European Commission, which led to the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU). In 2019, the European Investment Bank and Breakthrough Energy contributed €50 million each to a new fund, Breakthrough Energy Ventures Europe, which has already invested in six innovative young companies developing cutting-edge, low-carbon technologies in areas such as green hydrogen, fuel cells, eco-efficient cement and biochemicals from crop waste.
- Read about vaccine partnerships in developing countries
Networks for decarbonisation
But the partnership is more than just financial.
Breakthrough Energy and the European Investment Bank are also working together to co-host workshops and conferences related to energy sector decarbonisation and investment needs. The European Investment Bank Institute, which provides sponsorship and grants for higher education and research activities in Europe, is also building collaboration with the Breakthrough Energy Fellows Programme, which has a strong network in the United States.
The European Investment bank is working with Breakthrough Energy in Breakthrough Energy Catalyst Europe, a partnership with the European Commission’s InvestEU programme and Horizon Europe research programme. This aims to mobilise up to €840 billion of investment by 2026 to scale-up critical climate technologies and make their cost more competitive. The European Investment bank, which is the Commission’s main implementing partner for InvestEU, intends to deploy over €400 million under the Catalyst initiative across four key sectors: clean hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuels, direct air capture, and long-duration energy storage.
Great partnerships never stop growing. This year, the European Investment Bank also announced an agreement to strengthen its partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to boost investment in health, nutrition, sanitation, financial inclusion, gender equality and adapting agriculture to climate change in low- and middle-income countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The Bank’s development arm, EIB Global, will deepen its cooperation with the Foundation to focus on strengthening health systems and primary healthcare, preventing polio and other infectious diseases, and promoting research and development in the health sector. The two parties will also continue to work together on supporting the manufacturing, procurement and delivery of treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, malaria, HIV, tuberculosis and other diseases, which they have been working together on since 2020 through the African Health Diagnostics Platform.
Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and founder of Breakthrough Energy, visits the European Investment Bank and signs an agreement with Werner Hoyer, president of the EIB, to accelerate the clean energy transition.
