The BlackRock Foundation has announced a five-year, $100 million commitment to Breakthrough Energy in support of its Catalyst fund to accelerate the development of clean energy technologies.

The initial focus of the fund is to help accelerate the development and commercialization of four clean energy technologies: direct air capture, green hydrogen, long-duration energy storage, and sustainable aviation fuel. Catalyst will invest in those technologies with the goal of reducing their costs to compete with and replace the greenhouse gas-emitting energy generation technologies currently available — lowering what is referred to as "green premiums" and, ultimately, accelerating their widespread adoption.

The commitment represents the largest grant BlackRock Foundation has awarded since its creation in February 2020, as well as its first philanthropic climate commitment. As an anchor partner to Catalyst, BlackRock also will support investments in early commercial demonstration projects, offer perspectives on continued private sector engagement, provide insights on investment and offtake strategies, and help encourage additional companies to join the fund.

"The transition to a net-zero world and creating a more sustainable future is the shared responsibility of every citizen, corporation, and government. Mobilizing the $50 trillion in capital necessary to finance the global energy transition will require innovative new partnerships across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors," said BlackRock chair and CEO Larry Fink. "Our partnership with the Catalyst program represents a five-year philanthropic commitment to invest in cutting-edge science that will help bring vital clean energy solutions forward — at scale — to achieve the world's decarbonization goals and mitigate the uneven impact of climate change on communities."

"Avoiding a climate disaster will require a new industrial revolution. We need to make the technologies and products that don't cause emissions as cheap as those that do," said Breakthrough Energy founder Bill Gates. "The technologies Catalyst focuses on are vital to the world reaching net zero but require significant investments so they can become inexpensive enough for the whole world to afford them. By coordinating investments and directing them toward these critical technologies, we can reduce their green premiums, help them get to market faster, and have a meaningful positive impact on our planet."

Breakthrough Energy also announced six additional anchor partners that have committed to making "significant investments" through Catalyst: American Airlines, ArcelorMittal, Bank of America, Boston Consulting Group, General Motors, and Microsoft.

(Photo credit: Breakthrough Energy)