Bill Gates Is Raising Billions for Climate Change. Who’s on Board, and Where Is the Money Going?

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Note: This article was originally published on July 6, 2022.

Jeff Bezos has publicly committed more money to climate change philanthropy than anyone else on the planet — at least so far. But it’s the billionaire who held the title of world’s richest person prior to the Amazon founder who may be the world’s leading climate fundraiser: Bill Gates.

Over the past 18-plus months, the Microsoft co-founder has pulled in a steady stream of eight- and nine-figure commitments from foundations and corporations for the Catalyst initiative of his climate tech and policy operation Breakthrough Energy.

Those pledges total more than $1.5 billion, Gates said in remarks at last year’s annual U.N. climate conference, adding that his ambition is to raise at least twice that amount. And that total does not include another $2 billion invested by the boatload of billionaires who have signed on as board members and investors of Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the operation’s investment arm.

“Raising money was easier than I expected,” the 66-year-old told CNBC during his fundraising push at COP26, explaining that he called more than two dozen people and got 18 to commit to giving at least $50 million.

While there are no complete, publicly available lists of donors, grantees and dollar amounts committed, and Breakthrough declined to comment for this article, several public announcements and hints available online offer a glimpse into who is funding this operation and what is happening with the billions mobilized by a growing juggernaut in climate funding. 

The first thing to know about Breakthrough Energy is that it’s focused almost entirely on innovation as a solution to climate change, seeking to bring down the “green premium” — the gap between the cost of current technologies and new cleaner versions — as fast as possible. While Breakthrough started as a pool of investors in 2015, philanthropy is now playing a role in the organization’s work, based on the money it’s already moving and international philanthropic pledges it’s signed onto. Its mission currently involves policy work and direct funding of research, as well. 

Where philanthropy’s role in the project starts and ends remains unclear. For instance, it is hard to say whether recent pledges have been made as grants versus for-profit investments. And it’s unclear exactly how the two pools interact. 

On the other hand, the Catalyst program, which aims to accelerate the speed at which clean energy technology is developed and commercialized, is public about using a blended finance approach that combines funding from philanthropy, government and companies. But Catalyst is just one of seven initiatives Breakthrough is running, including a policy shop, a team of clean energy scientists and tech developers, a fellowship program, and initiatives in Canada and Europe. 

Breakthrough got started seven years ago, but its philanthropic arms are a lot younger. Tax filings show that two Kirkland, Washington-based nonprofits, Breakthrough Energy Foundation and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst Foundation, were established in March 2021. Initial grantees that we know of indicate an interest in universities, prominent nonprofits and partnerships with other mega-funders. And as with all of Breakthrough’s work, the focus is overwhelmingly on supporting an investment-driven mission to speed new technology to the market. Here’s what we know, and what we don’t.

Who’s cutting checks to Breakthrough Energy?

If there’s one overwhelming theme from what we know so far about Breakthrough Energy, it’s that when Gates calls, captains of industry pick up the phone. And they frequently say yes. That adds up to a lot of bucks from big business and billionaires flocking to Bill. 

Exactly how much is hard to say, although its Catalyst program has been the most public about its fundraising hauls. The initiative raises funding to speed the path to market for emerging clean technology, with a focus on four technologies: direct air capture, hydrogen fuel, long-duration energy storage and “sustainable” aviation fuel. 

Foundations constitute the smaller part of Catalyst’s impressive backers, but the numbers are still significant. The initiative has pulled in five-year, $100 million philanthropic pledges from both Lukas Walton’s investment and philanthropic vehicle, Builders Vision, and the BlackRock Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the investment giant. IKEA Foundation also joined with an unspecified contribution, but is similarly described as an “anchor partner.” (All three declined or did not respond to requests for interviews.)

Corporations constitute the bulk of the windfall. American Airlines, Mitsubishi, HSBC, Citi, steel and mining giant Arcelor Mittal, and, unsurprisingly, Microsoft have each committed $100 million to become “anchor partners’’ of Catalyst. Others have joined as “scaling partners,” including State Farm and BMO Financial Group, which each invested $50 million. Unspecified pledges have also come from General Motors, Bank of America and Boston Consulting Group, but each are described as “anchor” or “founding” partners, which suggests they made comparable commitments as others in that donor pool.

The Catalyst program has even accepted funding from the fossil fuel industry. A recently added anchor partner is Shell, one of four petroleum giants collectively responsible for 10% of the world’s emissions since 1965. Gates welcomed the firm in a LinkedIn post that shared his thinking: “The only way the world can achieve net-zero emissions is if every industry gets involved.”

Beyond the Catalyst program, Breakthrough has also recruited quite a list of billionaires to support its work. It’s unclear how much each is throwing into the pot, and their contributions seem mainly to be in the form of investment rather than charitable giving. Board members and investors listed for Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the organization’s investment arm, include not only mega-wealthy men like Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma and business magnate Mukesh Ambani, but also many of the world’s biggest climate donors. Bill Gates said in November that Ventures had raised more than $2 billion. 

Those donors includes Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, hedge fund manager and Children’s Investment Fund Foundation founder Chris Hohn, philanthropists Nat Simons and Laura Baxter-Simons, financier Julian Robertson, and venture capitalist John Doerr, who in May announced a $1.1 billion gift to Stanford University that will fund a new climate center named after him.

Other ascendant climate donors are in the mix, including John M. Sobrato, whose family foundation just started a climate portfolio; Australian mining billionaire and budding climate philanthropist Andrew Forrest; and Walmart heirs Ben and Lucy Ana Walton, who have shown an interest in green giving. 

Add to them some billionaire philanthropists who are not (at least not yet) known for funding climate action, such as former hedge fund manager John Arnold, and the husband-wife duo behind Open Philanthropy, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and former reporter Cari Tuna. 

Another billionaire philanthropic power couple, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, granted $10 million to a different branch of the outfit, Breakthrough Energy Fellows, a program to back entrepreneurs and researchers, as part of the couple’s inaugural round of public climate philanthropy back in November. 

Meanwhile, according to the Bezos Earth Fund’s website, Breakthrough Energy Foundation and Breakthrough Energy Action, the network’s policy arm, will each receive $40 million for an initiative to make it easier to bring new clean technologies to market. 

What share of these funds will go to nonprofits remains to be seen. But there is one early hint. Tax data collected by GuideStar indicate Breakthrough Energy Foundation had more than $265 million in assets last year, while Breakthrough Energy Catalyst Foundation had $65 million.

Who’s getting checks from Breakthrough Energy?

Breakthrough Energy has an extensive website describing sprawling work in finance, policy, research and public-private partnerships. But as with many big, hybrid funding vehicles these days, it is difficult to parse what, exactly, is charitable giving; nor does it offer many clues.

There are some indicators, though. The Catalyst program is explicitly focused on providing blended finance, which refers to using philanthropic dollars to attract or “de-risk” investments for private capital. Such mechanisms have been used in efforts like the Global Fund for Coral Reefs to multiply investment in uncertain but potentially beneficial businesses, as well as Gates-backed efforts like COVAX. They use philanthropic funds to attract larger sums of private capital, but have been criticized as using tax-free dollars to subsidize private profits. 

Breakthrough Energy has also publicly signed onto two high-profile philanthropic climate initiatives. One is the Global Methane Pledge, a public-private partnership backed by $328 million in government and foundation pledges, to reduce emissions of the potent greenhouse gas. The other is the Earthshot Prize, the 10-year competition backed by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge that bills itself as “the most prestigious global environment prize in history.” It seems likely that Breakthrough Energy is using grant dollars to back both these efforts. 

Other activities that may be landing charitable funding include energy policy work, fellowships and support for clean energy scientists and technologists. In fact, looking over public announcements from grantees and partners, university-based research seems to be the most common recipient of the organization’s grants. 

The foundation gave $499,000 for research into the “promising economics of ‘green’ manufacturing jobs” by David Hart, a professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. Another $150,000 went to the University of Michigan College of Engineering. Breakthrough has also funded research on carbon in the building sector by researchers at universities in Maryland and Poland, as well as at a DC nonprofit. EvolOH, a hydrogen startup run by a Stanford University graduate, also won a grant from the foundation, according to the college. 

Private researchers have also won some grants. Breakthrough Energy Foundation gave 272,500 euros in 2021 to Agora Energiewende, a German think tank focused on the energy transition. It also provided an unspecified amount to fund an evaluation by NCE, an environmental engineering consultancy, for the “identification and elimination of barriers restricting carbon reduction strategies,” according to an NCE slidedeck.

Nonprofits focused on influencing the business sector also show up a couple times. The foundation gave £900,000 to CDP — once known as Carbon Disclosure Project — for a project to “define a framework that articulates the impact of investing in emerging climate technologies,” according to the group’s annual report. It also supports the Renewable Hydrogen Coalition, a European business advocacy group, according to a news report. 

A couple of well-known organizations and projects also list Breakthrough Energy Foundation as a supporter, including the World Resources Institute and the World Economic Forum’s Mission Possible Partnership, a public-private effort to support the transition of heavy industry to net-zero emissions. It gave roughly 100,000 euros to the European branch of one of the darlings of the effective altruism movement, the Good Food Institute.

The operation also partnered with the Canadian government to launch Breakthrough Energy Solutions Canada, a $30 million effort to support Canadian entrepreneurs working on zero emissions innovations with grant funding.

What does this tell us?

There are few surprises among the known grants from the Breakthrough Energy Foundation. Educated guesses at what Gates would support, given his philanthropic record and background, would likely include research and technology development, business engagement and major environmental groups. 

In his adjacent work through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, his press interviews, and even his book on the topic, Gates has made it abundantly clear that he believes new technology and markets are the way to avoid climate catastrophe. He’s also been dismissive of other solutions in the past, including existing renewable energy technology, the Green New Deal, and social movements. 

In Breakthrough Energy, Gates is bringing his philosophy on climate into reality, full-force. He has assembled an operation that is explicitly a mix of investment fund, nonprofit, grantmaker and policy shop, and one that is huge and growing. The organization’s website currently lists 124 team members. 

The team might put it differently, but its master plan seems to be to amass a treasure chest of capital, use that money to leverage many times more in outside investments, and simultaneously use grants to inform those choices and smooth the path. Add to that its political efforts: Arms of the group have spent at least $1.8 million on lobbying over the last three years, bought ads supporting a Democrat in a New Hampshire congressional race, and registered with the House as a lobbyist.

There’s plenty to like about Breakthrough Energy. It’s worth emphasizing that it’s pursuing a direly needed mission. There are core modern processes — making concrete, for example — that must be rapidly greened, and advancing new and better energy technology is a critical component of any path to curbing climate change. The effort is also drawing a lot of new wealthy donors and investors into the realm of climate action. Like many modern philanthropists — see Laurene Powell Jobs, Lukas Walton, Pierre Omidyar — Gates is blending private investment with philanthropy to chase breakthroughs. And as we’ve long argued at Inside Philanthropy, it’s past time that philanthropy paid as much attention to its investments as its grants, especially when that means a charitable foundation uses its endowed assets to back up its mission.

Some thorny questions remain, however, about how Breakthrough works and what its impact will be. Different from foundation impact investing, Breakthrough looks more like a venture capital firm using charitable giving to back up its technology investments. One issue rises to the top for me: What kind of returns are Breakthrough Energy investors going to see? And how is that being aided by philanthropy? We don’t really know. Many of the backers are major climate hawks, but they are also some of the wealthiest people — and corporations — on the planet. Is it the best use of tax-subsidized funding to sweeten the pot for wealthy investors during the energy transition? 

Gates would likely say that yes, it is. And it seems like a lot of billionaires agree with his tech and market-driven vision for climate action. So many major climate funders — new and established — are lining up behind it, which raises a couple of other concerns about what its impact will be. 

As activist and author Bill McKibben pointed out in his review of Gates’s climate change book, the billionaire’s analysis is lacking in its understanding of how politics and special interests shape our future. The recent Supreme Court ruling on the authority of the EPA is just the latest signal that polluting industries will not go quietly. Beyond that, Breakthrough’s growth suggests ultra-wealthy donors and investors are throwing a lot of weight behind Gates and others’ faith in capitalism to deliver us from this catastrophe, rather than approaches that are working for a just transition away from extractive practices of the past, and looking to communities to lead the way on climate solutions.

The development of new energy technology is an important cause, and the climate fight needs all the resources it can get. But as with many of the massive funding commitments we’re seeing, there’s a danger that Breakthrough Energy’s theory of change could end up dominating the space.