Soros to Invest $1B in Green Energy

Mark Svenvold

posted: 44 DAYS 1 HOUR AGO

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Billionaire philanthropist George Soros has thrown his hat into the green-investment ring, pledging to spend $1 billion on clean energy. The 29th richest man in the world with a net worth of about $11 billion, Soros suggested he is interested in investing in technologies that are profitable and that are effective in reducing global climate change. "I want to apply rather stringent criteria to the investments," Soros said in a speech in Denmark on Saturday.

If he is true to his word, however, his investment would seem to rule out a technology into which he has already invested -- carbon capture and sequestration, which has been shown to be riotously expensive and dubiously effective, as in this recent post.

In addition to the $1 billion, Soros, who has spent $6 billion in philanthropic foundations since 1979 to support free and open societies, education and public heath issues, launched a new foundation, the Climate Policy Initiative. The foundation will advise policy makers on climate, energy and environmental issues. It will be funded with $100 million over the next 10 years.

2009-10-12 19:27:34