Bill Gates Announces $1 Billion Fund To Invest In Green Technologies

"I am optimistic. I think we will get the increased investments. If we come together, really realize what solves the problem, then we will make the breakthroughs," Bill Gates said in a video posted on his blog in November 2015.

It appears Gates and 20 of his fellow investors are $1 billion closer to those "breakthroughs" in green technologies.

The billionaire's Breakthrough Energy Coalition unveiled Breakthrough Energy Ventures on Monday. It's an over $1 billion fund to invest in new technologies that leave less of a carbon footprint.

The goal of the fund is to develop "affordable and reliable" ways of living that will emit nearly no greenhouse gases.

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And there's an urgent need. By 2040, global emissions of carbon dioxide — the most prevalent greenhouse gas — are expected to increase from 2012 levels by one-third.

The investments, as Gates described in the video last year, would be in "high-risk" green companies and would be long term. The fund has a lifespan of 20 years.

"... that formula will accelerate the innovation at the research level, accelerate the risk-taking, and that's what gives us a chance at having a solution," Gates said in the 2015 video.

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By speeding up innovation and risk-taking, the hope is new developments will be accessible to the public sooner.

Investments will likely be made in sectors like transportation, agriculture, industry, buildings and electricity.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman are among the investors.