Bill Clinton, Israeli Billionaire Launch $1 Billion Climate Fund

Gwen Ackerman, Bloomberg News

Former US President Bill Clinton speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) annual meeting in New York, US, on Monday, Sept. 18, 2023. Established in 2005, the CGI convenes global leaders to create and implement solutions to the world's most pressing challenges, including climate change, inclusive economic growth, and health equity. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Former US President Bill Clinton is teaming with Israeli billionaire Ziv Aviram to launch a climate fund with about $1 billion of start-up capital.

Aviram, the co-founder of Mobileye, says the fund will focus on transformative technologies that address the challenges posed by global heating. Clinton will serve as chair of the advisory board for the New York-based fund, EcoBridge Impact. Founders include Itai Lemberger and Robert Citrone.

“When I started to dig into the climate change crisis and the magnitude and severity of climate change, I decided to act,” Aviram said in a phone interview from New York. Climate change is “one of the most acute problems that humanity faces.”

Aviram said he’s undeterred by the recent selloff in some climate stocks, as hedge funds turn on solar and wind companies struggling to keep up with rising interest rates, project delays and impairments. Instead, he says that waves of extreme heat, fires and floods sweeping across much of the globe underscore the need to channel capital into green technologies.

EcoBridge will mostly invest in later-stage companies that need help building the scale to compete globally. Aviram and Clinton will put their own returns toward philanthropy.

“Of the many challenges we face, there is perhaps none which requires our collective action as urgently as climate change,” Clinton said in a statement posted Tuesday.

The new fund will target “breakthrough, cutting-edge technology,” said Aviram.