Bill Gates Expected to Create Billion-Dollar Fund for Clean Energy

[Calista241]

Source: NY Times

WASHINGTON — Bill Gates will announce the creation of a multibillion-dollar clean energy fund on Monday at the opening of a Paris summit meeting intended to forge a global accord to cut planet-warming emissions, according to people with knowledge of the plans.

The fund, which one of the people described as the largest such effort in history, is meant to pay for research and development of new clean-energy technologies. It will include contributions from other billionaires and philanthropies, as well as a commitment by the United States to double its budget for clean energy research and development, according to the people with knowledge of the plans, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the fund.

The announcement of the fund, which has the joint backing of the governments of the United States, China, India and other countries, the people said, is intended to give momentum to the two-week Paris climate talks.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/28/us/politics/bill-gates-expected-to-create-billion-dollar-fund-for-clean-energy.html?_r=0

[Thinkingabout]

1. He is one of the 1% and has a corporation, the 1% is nkt against the rest of the world.

Thanks Bill, clean energy is indeed the future.

[ErikJ]

2. Its about f'ing time!

I was wondering when one of these zillionaires was going to step up to the plate.

[joealexander]

7. Don't Get Excited by This...

Gates and his philanthropy is nasty business. In '02 through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates vowed to give away his entire fortune in the following ten years. Nearly fourteen years later, his fortune has doubled.

It's called "venture philanthropy". For instance, Gates invested about ten million in Monsanto. He then goes to the WHO and says he's going to start a polio vaccination campaign in India. The WHO isn't a fan of the drug because it's untested, but they buy in because there's Gates throwing his money in. Gates makes mega millions on the investment.

Improving global health is a tax-free image strategy used to sweeten his personal investments. Bad thing is the WHO (and even Gates himself) are starting to see his "philanthropy" has damaged global health initiatives far more than any improvement.

Ed reform is an even nastier story. All to bust unions and get a taste of that $650 Billion spent on public education in America each year, Gates has aligned himself with the Waltons, Kochs, Kresge, Hoover Foundation--a who's who of libertarian money grabbers.

If he's investing in clean energy, it's like what the Walton Family Foundation is doing, which is lobbying state and local municipalities to get exclusivity rights for tax-incentivized solar and wind installations. It will stop clean energy in the long-run and make the Waltons (and now Gates) richer.

[Marty McGraw]

8. ^^This!!^^ (._. )

+1 gazillion



Thank you Joealexander, Your voice is a wonderful addition! Keep up the Vigilance!

[ErikJ]

9. I'm not so cynical of Gates

I think he truly cares about his commitments. After all he has been calling for higher taxes on the super-rich and even sponsored a bill in Washington state for an income tax on the rich over $250,000 per yr, which FAILED because Koch front groups killing it.

His Bill and Mel Gates Found. #1 goal is women education and empowerment which has proven to be the best way to slow birth and over-population. ( I like to think I turned them onto this when I emailed them in the 1990's about this phenomenon when they had just begun the foundation. They emailed me back thanking them for the suggestion. )

His US education efforts might be a bit misguided but I think he (being a genius) is understably appalled at the lack of good education in the US with its very high drop out rate.

[MrMickeysMom]

11. It would appear to be all part of the privatization plan...

That's entirely gross.

Welcome to DU, joe

[PSPS]

3. Fine, but I don't like the fate of the world being up to the discretion of under-taxed billionaires.

With any luck, Gates won't present himself (or be taken as) some kind of "expert" in this field as has happened with his meddling in other areas such as education and medicine.

[tk2kewl]

10. Me neither

Its kind of like the only thing that can stop a bad billionaire with a checkbook is a good billionaire with a checkbook

It's a crappy way to go about public policy

[FLPanhandle]

4. Bill Gates was the big money influencer to bring in cheap H1B workers while laying off Americans

I'll give him credit for this but understand, he made that a lot of money by getting rid of more expensive American citizens and bringing in cheap labor on work visas.

[7962]

5. Maybe he can get Elon Musk to join him. We need great minds.

Theres no telling WHATS out there that is possible and has yet to be invented or discovered

[hatrack]

6. Congrats, Bill, you're commiting nearly 53% of DOE's Renewables & Efficiency budget for 2014 alone

http://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/04/f14/15Highlights%20%281%29.pdf

Page 29 of the PDF.

But then, we all know that only the private sector can provide really important R&D results - certainly not silly ol' government, right?

[valerief]

12. Just so long as they don't lose any of their oil/gas money. nt