ArcelorMittal pledges US $100 M for Breakthrough Energy’s Catalyst program

ArcelorMittal, a steel and mining company, said that it has joined Breakthrough Energy’s Catalyst program as an anchor partner, pledging a $100 million equity investment over the next five years.

The investment will come from ArcelorMittal’s XCarb innovation fund, which was created earlier this year.

“The company anticipates investing up to $100 million annually through the fund in companies developing technologies with the potential to support and accelerate the transition to zero-carbon emissions steel-making,” the steel giant said in a statement.

Breakthrough Energy, founded by Bill Gates, is dedicated to growing the technology required to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Investment vehicles, charitable programs, legislative lobbying, and other initiatives, such as Catalyst, are all part of Breakthrough Energy’s activities.

Catalyst is a new paradigm for how corporations, governments, and private charities may finance, manufacture, and secure widespread adoption of next-generation clean technology, which was unveiled earlier this year.

“The Catalyst program is innovative and necessary. It brings together public and private finance with the objective of fast-tracking the deployment of projects which can deliver significant carbon reduction. For ArcelorMittal and the steel industry this kind of initiative is critically important,” said Aditya Mittal, CEO, ArcelorMittal.

Bill Gates, Founder, Breakthrough Energy noted, “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, so the whole world can afford them and reach our climate goals.”