Pledging to invest at least $1 billion into cleantech startups over the next 20 years, ex-Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Bill Gates has been joined by Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma, Richard Branson, Vinod Khosla, John Doerr and more than a dozen other high-profile investors have created a new venture capital firm called Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

Breakthrough Energy Ventures says on its website that it aims to “provide everyone in the world with access to reliable, affordable power, food, goods, transportation and services without contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.” To that end, the new VC firm has promised to invest in green and clean energy technologies, with the twin goals of tackling climate change and promoting renewable energy sources.

“The Breakthrough Energy Coalition is a partnership committed to broad investment in new energy technologies,” the fund’s website reads. “We are investing our own capital and are working with over 20 countries around the world who have committed to significantly increase their investments in the basic research that leads to breakthrough innovations.”

Gates, who has assumed the role of chairman at the new fund, told Quartz: “I am honored to work along with these investors to build on the powerful foundation of public investment in basic research. Our goal is to build companies that will help deliver the next generation of reliable, affordable, and emissions-free energy to the world.”

It’s a suitable cause for Gates, who has become a champion of good causes since departing his day job at Microsoft. Since stepping down as Microsoft CEO back in 2000, Gates has devoted the majority of his time to philanthropic causes via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has spent millions of dollars on projects ranging from fighting malaria to providing sanitation and clean water to poor communities around the world.

Breakthrough Energy Ventures was born out of the original Breakthrough Energy Coalition, which was launched by Gates, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other tech leaders in November 2015. The launch of Breakthrough Energy Ventures is said to be the next step in the coalition’s attempts to tackle climate change.

Besides announcing the new fund, the Breakthrough Energy Coalition also released a new “Landscape of Innovation” document that outlines a plan to reduce carbon emissions to near-zero. The document proposes investments in five key areas – electricity, manufacturing, transportation, agriculture and buildings – which would be critical to reducing emissions, and provides an indication of what kind of startup the new fund might be looking to invest its money in.

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