The Canadian government has partnered with Microsoft founder Bill Gates to provide $30 million in funding for break-through Canadian innovations in clean energy.
Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi made the announcement Monday, May27, at the end of the first day of the three-day Clean Energy Ministerial conference in Vancouver. The conference brings energy ministers from around the world together annually to discuss global energy issues and policies.
It is the first time Canada has hosted the annual CEM conference, which is being attended by 1,200 government, industry and non government organizations from 25 countries.
"This is our opportunity, as Canadians, to highlight the leadership we are demonstrating in the area of clean energy and the work that is being done here by the private sector, as well as the partnerships that we have been able to foster with the private sector," Sohi told Business in Vancouver.
Canadian clean-tech companies are using the CEM to announce a number of initiatives and investments.
Inventys, for example, a B.C. clean-tech company that developed a CO2 capture technology, announced May 28 that Lafarge and the French oil and gas company, Total S.A., are investing in a carbon capture and reuse project at the Lafarge Canada cement plant in Richmond
The Inventys adsorption technology will scrub pollutants and capture CO2 from the Lafarge Canada cement plant in Richmond.
The investment is being partly funded by the the provincial government, to the tune of $150,000, through the Innovative Clean Energy fund. Inventys did not say how much Total and Lafarge are investing.
As for more early stage companies, Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures is putting up $10 million towards a new initiative called Breakthrough Energy Solutions Canada (BESC). The Canadian government will contribute $20 million to the fund, which will go to Canadian companies developing clean energy technologies in the electricity, transportation, buildings and manufacturing sectors.
Natural Resources Canada will oversee the fund and Breakthrough Energy Ventures will provide insights and exposure to global investors.
“Collaboration across the public and private sectors is a powerful way to advance the energy innovations and companies needed for a carbon-free future,” Gates said in a government press release.
“We are hopeful that this Breakthrough Energy partnership with Canada will be a model for developing more collaborations that will help reach this goal.”
Gates has already backed a number of Canadian clean-tech companies, including Carbon Engineering, which developed a direct-air system for taking CO2 out of the air.
