London, May 25 (IANS) Former British prime minister Tony Blair, who has landed a job as adviser to Indian-born billionaire Vinod Khosla’s US-based venture capital firm, says he shares a ‘clear vision’ with the tycoon, ‘one of the earliest leaders in cleantech investment’.
Blair is to lend his expertise and ‘global relationships’ to the California-based Khosla Ventures, which specialises in promoting environmentally friendly technology, The Guardian reported Tuesday.
Vinod Khosla is one of the founders of the computer firm Sun Microsystems. The 55-year-old tycoon has a fortune estimated by Forbes magazine at $1.1 billion. He says that the world should look for technological breakthroughs to find ‘clean’ alternatives to oil, coal, cement and steel.
Blair said: ‘Solving the climate crisis is more than just a political agenda item – it’s an urgent priority that requires innovation, creativity and ambition.’
‘I share a clear vision with Vinod, one of the earliest leaders in cleantech investment, that entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and beyond will have a tremendous impact on our environmental future,’ a statement quoted Blair as saying.
His appointment to the Silicon Valley firm was announced Monday at a summit for the firm’s investors in Sausalito, near San Francisco, the media report said.
Blair told the Wall Street Journal that the job was ‘not a pro bono’ role.
Khosla said the arrangement would allow him to ‘ask Tony for advice’ and he told the WSJ: ‘Tony’s going to help us in many areas that techie nerds like us in Silicon Valley don’t understand.’
