Gates, Branson, Zuckerberg, Bezos, and Ma Launch Breakthrough Energy Coalition

December 4, 2015

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Image Credit: Breakthrough Energy Coalition

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“We need innovation that gives us energy that’s cheaper than today’s hydrocarbon energy, that has zero CO₂ emissions, and that’s as reliable as today’s overall energy system. And when you put all those requirements together, we need an energy miracle,” Bill Gates recently told The Atlantic.
Luckily, what The Atlantic article called Gates’ “solo global lobbying campaign,” is starting to snowball. The political outcomes of the United Nations climate conference, COP21, may still be unknown, but at least we can expect substantial investment in clean energy following major announcements from earlier this week.
Some of the world’s richest and most influential people committed to support the commercialization of clean energy ideas as part of the newly formed Breakthrough Energy Coalition. Meanwhile, over 20 countries will participate in Mission Innovation, a commitment to double their governmental and/or state-directed clean energy research and development investment over five years.
Gates spearheaded the Coalition, and is joined by 26 other investors from 10 countries. Among them: Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group; Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Facebook, and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, CEO of The Primary School; Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon; Jack Ma, Founder and CEO of Alibaba Group; Marc Benioff, Founder and CEO of Salesforce; Reid Hoffman, Founder of LinkedIn and Partner at Greylock; Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Indian megacorp Reliance Industries Limited; Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett Packard; and Saudia Arabian HRH Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
“The world needs to be carbon neutral by 2050. This CAN and HAS to be achieved by governments, business and others coming together to create an energy revolution. The Breakthrough Energy Coalition will help make this a reality,” Branson is quoted on the Coalition’s website. “The next decade presents a great opportunity to invest in businesses and technology aimed at tackling climate change. We must produce an abundance of clean, renewable energy and drive further innovation to make the next generation of energy more efficient. It will benefit the environment, our society and the economy.”
“Our primary goal with the Coalition is as much to accelerate progress on clean energy as it is to make a profit,” Gates wrote in the blog post that broke the news. He further explained the rationale for clean energy investment in a video.

CORPORATE INFO...

Corporate News

Shell wants ex-Nairobi Councillor jailed over Sh180m land case

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A Shell petrol station opposite MP Shah Hospital on Parklands road in Nairobi. PHOTO | FILE 

By BRIAN WASUNA

Posted  Sunday, December 6   2015 at  14:45

Oil marketer Vivo Energy, which trades in Kenya as Shell, wants a former Nairobi councillor jailed for interfering with a disputed piece of land along Ngong Road despite a court order directing that the plot should be left untouched until a suit it filed is heard.

        

         SPACE

The oil marketer says former Woodley Ward representative Mohammed Peter Nyutu has dumped a storage container on the land which is valued at Sh180 million and is laying concrete around it in defiance of Justice Lucy Gacheru’s court order.

Vivo sued Mr Nyutu’s company Red Kaka Limited in August, accusing it of grabbing the prime land which is adjacent to its Woodley outlet. It says Mr Nyutu used forged documents to trick the Registrar of Titles and City Hall into validating Red Kaka’s occupation of the land.

“Red Kaka through Mr Nyutu has commenced acts contemptuous of the court process by placing a massive container on the suit property with the sole intention of seeking to pursue ownership rights in means other than those envisaged in these proceedings,” Vivo says.

Vivo has sued Red Kaka, City Hall, the Registrar of Titles and Ayan Enterprises — a firm that was in the process of buying the land from Mr Nyutu’s company. A defence filed by the Registrar of Titles indicates that the land belongs to Vivo.

Red Kaka in 2008 leased the land to Ayan Enterprises, and successfully registered the lease with the registrar, who now says documents used in the transaction were forged.

The registrar says in defence papers that it only registered Red Kaka as the owner of the land because City Hall issued it with a seemingly genuine lease to the firm.

City Hall, however, claims that it has never owned or dealt with the land. The registrar wants City Hall and Red Kaka to settle any damages it may be ordered to pay as it only went on documents from them in issuing a provisional title deed to Mr Nyutu’s firm.

Joseph Kamunyu, a land registrar, says records show that Vivo is the registered owner of the property.

He adds that City Hall hoodwinked it into believing that the county government had authority to allocate the land to Red Kaka.

“Upon checking the indenture, it indicated that the property belongs to Kenya Shell Limited.

“City Hall had misrepresented to the registrar that it had authority to allocate the said land when knowingly it did not,” Mr Kamunyu says.