Breakthrough Energy CTO outlines low-carbon technology roadmap

Breakthrough Energy chief technical officer Eric Toone gave a keynote at MIT Energy Initiative’s annual Energizing@MIT conference, outlining the cost and technology pathways to decarbonize the global economy.

• Toone said Breakthrough Energy and collaborators used artificial intelligence to estimate decarbonizing the global economy would cost about $7.5 trillion, or about 5% of global GDP; he also said the cost could fall to $3.5 trillion if key technologies succeed.
• He described Breakthrough Energy’s portfolio and deployment history: started with a $1 billion venture fund, later raised about $5 billion more, and has deployed about $3 billion into about 140 companies; examples included Luxwall, Brimstone, Ecocem, CarbonCure Technologies, TS Conductor, VEIR, Form Energy, Stoke Space Technologies, Fervo Energy, and Commonwealth Fusion Systems.