The past year has seen several major announcements in public and private clean energy investment, including the launch of Mission Innovation and the Breakthrough Energy Coalition at COP 21 in Paris. | Energy Department photo by Matt Dozier.
It has been an exciting past year for clean energy. Here at the Department of Energy, we have been focused on leveraging private and public sector momentum from 2015 toward additional action this year to advance new investment in clean energy technologies.
Just over a year ago, in February 2015, the Obama Administration launched the Clean Energy Investment Initiative. This effort set an initial goal of catalyzing $2 billion in private investment for climate change solutions, including innovative technologies with breakthrough potential to reduce carbon pollution. Just a few months later, in June 2015, the White House at its Clean Energy Investment Summit announced that the initiative had reached $4 billion in private investment– more than doubling the initial goal. At the same event, the Department of Energy announced its plan to create a Clean Energy Investment Center.
The private sector momentum did not stop after the Clean Energy Investment Summit; it continued through the end of the year and carried on into 2016. Some key milestones include the following:
- In December 2015, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Paris, Bill Gates announced the creation of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition. Over $1 billion dollars in investment by 28 investors from 10 countries will provide capital to early stage energy companies and help solve the urgent energy and climate challenges facing the planet.
- In tandem with this private sector advancement, 20 countries, representing 80 percent of global clean energy research spending, launched Mission Innovation. This effort set a goal to double each country’s research and development spending over the next five years – toward bringing about new early stage clean energy technology.
- Following the significant announcements in Paris, private and public sector leaders convened in January at the 2016 Investor Summit on Climate Risk at the UN in New York, focused on translating commitments into action.
- This coming June, the U.S. government will be hosting the seventh Clean Energy Ministerial, alongside 22 other countries and the European Commission, to demonstrate our efforts and new actions to meet our clean energy goals.
The Department remains busy in working to assist these efforts. In January, the Department launched the Clean Energy Investment Center (CEIC), led by Dr. Sanjiv Malhotra. The CEIC is already working to make information on clean energy technologies more accessible and understandable to the public, by serving as a conduit between the Department and private sector groups. I have been meeting regularly with Sanjiv, as well as Jetta Wong, Director of the Office of Technology Transitions, and Ken Alston, Special Advisor for Finance & Clean Energy Investment. They have been doing excellent work to move forward this charge of working to mobilize new investment.
In an effort to identify how the Clean Energy Investment Center can improve and expand access to the Department’s resources, the Department is now reviewing information received in a Request for Information released by the CEIC. We hope the Center will make it easier for investors to get a clear picture of the clean energy industry and the opportunities it offers. Please visit the CEIC website for more information and updates.
The Department of Energy sees 2016 as an important year to build on this momentum with partners in the public and private sector. We look forward to the important work that lies ahead.
