Icons team up for Breakthrough in climate fight

A group of 20 global business and technology luminaries will invest $1 billion in a clean energy fund to help combat global climate change.

Spearheaded by Bill Gates, former CEO of Microsoft Corp, the star-studded lineup, which includes Alibaba Group Holding Ltd founder Jack Ma and real estate power couple Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin, pledged to foster new energy technologies in the private sector.

The fund - Breakthrough Energy Ventures - is designed to invest over a 20-year period in early stage startups that deliver emission-free energy, agriculture and goods to the world.