BILL GATES, MARK ZUCKERBERG AND 27 OTHER BILLIONAIRES LAUNCH CLEAN ENERGY RESEARCH FUND

Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg along with a roster of other high-profile billionaires have created a new global organization aimed at spurring investment in renewable energy technologies.

Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, announced the launch of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition in a Statement Sunday night ahead of the U.N. climate talks in Paris this week.

“Progress towards a sustainable energy system is too slow, and the current system doesn’t encourage the kind of innovation that will get us there faster,” Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post.

“The Breakthrough Energy Coalition will invest in ideas that have the potential to transform the way we all produce and consume energy.” Other members of the organization include Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Virgin founder Richard Branson, and Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma.

Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates wrote on his website that the private initiative will take money from 28 of the world’s wealthiest investors and provide funding for technologies that brings affordable clean energy to around the globe.

“Given the scale of the challenge, we need to be exploring many different paths – and that means we also need to invent new approaches,” Gates wrote. “Private companies will ultimately develop these energy breakthroughs, but their work will rely on the kind of basic research that only governments can fund. Both have a role to play.”