Philanthropist and noted progressive political stalwart
George Soros announced via email from Copenhagen, today, that he will invest a whopping $1 billion in clean-energy technology as well as provide $100 million (via 10 annual payments of $10 million) to create a San Francisco-based organization which will be known as the Climate Policy Initiative.
From Bloomberg: "George Soros to Invest $1 Billion in Clean-Energy Technology."
George Soros to Invest $1 Billion in Clean-Energy Technology
By Katherine Burton
Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire George Soros will invest $1 billion in clean-energy technology and create an organization that will advise policy makers as they address climate change, which he called a "political problem."
"I want to apply rather stringent criteria to the investments," said Soros in an e-mailed message. "They should be profitable but should also actually make a contribution to solving the problem."
The Bloomberg story tells us that Soros made the announcement from Denmark where he was attending a meeting on climate change sponsored by Project Syndicate, a group comprised of 430 newspapers from 150 countries.
Per Bloomberg, the goal of the Climate Policy Initiative "...will be to look after the public interest as policies and programs are created to address climate change."
More on this from Soros...
"We will be part advisory service, part policy developer and part watchdog," said Thomas Heller, who is heading the initiative. Heller is a professor at Stanford University Law School whose expertise is in energy law and regulation and environmental law.
"The problem of global warming is primarily a political problem at this point," Soros said. "The science is beyond dispute, but how do we achieve the objectives we all know are necessary? That is a political problem."
I'm a pretty big fan of George Soros. The guy puts his money where his mouth is. And, I believe--while it's not confirmed but based upon numbers that I read in his Wiki bio, linked above--that this announcement of financial support represents, by far and away, the biggest single commitment that he has made in a many-decades-long history of supporting progressive social causes.
Yes, effectively addressing global warming, IMHO, is "primarily a political problem at this point."
I don't know about you, but I'll take one George Soros over a hundred T. Boone Pickens any day of the week!