At a time when the private sector is expected to lead the way on efforts to limit carbon emissions, the need for energy breakthroughs is profound.

That's the view of Gates, the founder of Microsoft and philanthropist who is leading Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which announced in December it had raised $1 billion to finance new energy technologies that release zero emissions linked to global climate change.

The pressure for innovation from the private sector comes as the federal government led by businessman President-elect Donald Trump — who has described global warming as a hoax — appears poised to reverse climate initiatives launched in the past eight years.

The world was on track through November for 2016 to be the hottest year on record. As of Wednesday, local weather statistics from the National Weather Service in Sullivan – dating to the 1870s – indicate 2016 was poised to be the fourth-warmest year on record.

Driving the initiative is the need to lift people around the world out of poverty through greater access to electricity and other energy sources, as the global population surges.