From being divorced by his ex-wife to being named in the Epstein files, it is safe to say that Bill Gates has been going through a personal crisis in the last couple of years. However, professionally too, his climate-focused initiatives have been taking a hit amid President Trump’s squeeze on climate policy.
The latest news coming out of the climate-tech grapevine is that Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy, which funds various climate ventures, has stopped bankrolling new investments from one of its key funds — Breakthrough Energy Catalyst.
Since its inception in 2021, the Catalyst fund has raised more than $1 billion to bankroll nascent startups developing innovative green solutions. A Breakthrough Energy spokesperson stated that after spending “high hundreds of millions of dollars,” new investments from the fund have been paused.
What’s next for Breakthrough Energy Ventures?
The organization appears to be undergoing a restructuring and realignment process, with a spokesperson telling Bloomberg, “Catalyst has transitioned from evaluating new funding opportunities to managing and supporting its existing companies.” The company representative further emphasized that there are no plans to raise more money for the Catalyst fund and did not provide details about what will happen to the remaining capital.
Furthermore, Breakthrough Energy Catalyst has let go of some employees as part of its ongoing overhaul. Reportedly, the new direction the organization is pursuing will require a “smaller team.” Catalyst is just one of the funds backing budding climate-based startups under Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which has provided financial support to roughly 150 climate-focused startups.
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The business model for the Catalyst fund combines return-generating investments with philanthropy. However, under the current political climate, climate-tech investors are finding it increasingly difficult to secure buyers for their emerging technologies.
Bill Gates’ clean energy plans have been suffering setbacks for quite a long time
A Gates-backed solar manufacturing startup called CubicPV rolled back plans to set up a large-scale solar wafer factory in the United States, trimming its workforce as part of a strategic refocus. Gates’ vision hit a brick wall due to the declining profitability of domestic production and oversupply in global solar panels.
According to a CubicPV spokesperson, “a dramatic collapse in wafer prices and a surge in construction costs” undermined the ambitious investment plan.
The project was announced in late 2022, with hopes of strengthening the domestic solar supply chain. However, the scrapping of the project was accompanied by job losses, with the workforce reportedly halved and the company’s long-time CEO stepping down.
Currently, Trump’s climate policy rollbacks have cleared away billions of dollars from climate-action programs introduced under Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Nevertheless, Gates’ efforts to decarbonize the world remain intact, even as new sources of capital will need to be secured to support the scaling of emerging green technologies.
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