The Obama administration and a slew of corporate, philanthropic, educational and other groups are committing over $4 billion to clean energy technology. The White House announced on Tuesday that the investments to be made by the organizations involved will more than double the original lean Energy Investment Initiative goal of $2 billion. The point of the investment is to grow the clean energy economy as well as cut down on carbon pollution.
"America’s world-class researchers and entrepreneurs are developing the next breakthrough technologies that will transform how we generate, store, and consume energy," the White House announcement stated. "We need to continue to invest in innovation to reduce carbon pollution while growing the economy—and creating entirely new industries here in America."
Along with the investment announcement, the White House said that several federal agencies are starting up new programs to entice more private companies into the clean energy space. The Department of Energy will open a Clean Energy Impact Investment Center specifically to help educate and inform the public and private companies about the government's energy programs, while the Treasury will start helping philanthropies interested in investing in clean energy tech. And as clean energy tech often needs a lot of capital early on, there will also be new opportunities for financing by the U.S. Small Business Administration for investment funds and investors related to clean energy tech.
"Long-term investors—such as foundations, family office investors, and institutional investors—can play a catalytic role in accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy," the White House wrote. "Philanthropists can help fund clean energy innovation at the earliest stages, where bold new ideas are emerging from our labs, universities, and startups, while investors can scale up the most promising of these innovations. Taken together, today’s announcements will help ensure that more climate innovations make the leap out of the laboratory and into the global marketplace."
The $4 billion as a number is somewhat staggering, but the long list of companies, charities, research institutions and other groups involved spreads it out enormously. The breadth of the investment is in some ways even more impressive as a sign of commitment. It suggests the administration is doing its best to make the clean energy investment very much a bottom-up kind of project, with the federal agencies focusing on coordinating and informing rather than any kind of direct financial investment. The fact sheet takes pains to note that no new tax dollars are involved in any of the programs. Taken as a whole, there could be plenty of new clean energy startups that benefit from the partnerships and investment opportunities made possible by these commitments.
