Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire George Soros, looking to address the "political problem" of climate change, said he will invest $1 billion in clean-energy technology and create an organization to advise policy makers on environmental issues. Soros, the founder of hedge fund Soros Fund Management LLC, announced the investment in Copenhagen yesterday at a meeting on climate change sponsored by Project Syndicate. The group is an international association made up of 430 newspapers from 150 countries. "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." Soros, whose own wealth accounts for much of the approximately $24 billion his New York-based money-management firm oversees, didn't provide any details in his speech on the type or scope of investments he might make. Soros, 79, also will establish the Climate Policy Initiative, a San Francisco-based organization to which he will donate $10 million a year for 10 years.
Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire George Soros, looking to address the "political problem" of climate change, said he will invest $1 billion in clean-energy technology and create an organization to advise policy makers on environmental issues.
Soros, the founder of hedge fund Soros Fund Management LLC, announced the investment in Copenhagen yesterday at a meeting on climate change sponsored by Project Syndicate. The group is an international association made up of 430 newspapers from 150 countries.
"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."
Soros, whose own wealth accounts for much of the approximately $24 billion his New York-based money-management firm oversees, didn't provide any details in his speech on the type or scope of investments he might make.
Soros, 79, also will establish the Climate Policy Initiative, a San Francisco-based organization to which he will donate $10 million a year for 10 years.
Billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros has pledged to invest more than $1bn (£625m) of his own money in clean energy technology to tackle climate change. Speaking in Copenhagen on Saturday evening, the Hungarian-born Soros also announced the foundation of the Climate Policy Initiative, which he will fund with $10m annually for the next decade.Soros, ranked the world's 29th wealthiest individual by Forbes magazine, said: "There is no magic bullet for climate change, but there is a lethal bullet: coal." Soros, who already holds limited investments in clean coal technology ventures, explained he would apply "stringent conditions" to the disbursement of the $1bn. "I will look for profitable opportunities, but I will also insist that the investments make a real contribution to solving the problem of climate change."The Climate Policy Initiative, formally launched in Berlin next month, would focus on the efficacy and implementation of policy, said Soros, "to protect the public interest against special interests". The new global climate watchdog will be based in San Francisco and headed by Stanford professor Thomas Heller.
Billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros has pledged to invest more than $1bn (£625m) of his own money in clean energy technology to tackle climate change. Speaking in Copenhagen on Saturday evening, the Hungarian-born Soros also announced the foundation of the Climate Policy Initiative, which he will fund with $10m annually for the next decade.
Soros, ranked the world's 29th wealthiest individual by Forbes magazine, said: "There is no magic bullet for climate change, but there is a lethal bullet: coal." Soros, who already holds limited investments in clean coal technology ventures, explained he would apply "stringent conditions" to the disbursement of the $1bn. "I will look for profitable opportunities, but I will also insist that the investments make a real contribution to solving the problem of climate change."
The Climate Policy Initiative, formally launched in Berlin next month, would focus on the efficacy and implementation of policy, said Soros, "to protect the public interest against special interests". The new global climate watchdog will be based in San Francisco and headed by Stanford professor Thomas Heller.
