President Barack Obama, Bill Gates and a host of other world leaders and wealthy philanthropists are launching a global multi-billion dollar research initiative to combat climate change.

While speaking in Paris on Monday, Obama is expected to announce a clean energy program known as "Mission Innovation" that aims to double public investments in clean energy research from $10 billion to $20 billion by the year 2020, according to The Washington Post.

In addition to the U.S., 19 other governments -- including China, Brazil, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, France and India -- will pledge to double their investments in clean-energy research and development within the next five years.

Brian Deese, a senior White House adviser on energy and climate issues, said the initiative "should help to send a strong signal that the world is committed to helping to try to mobilize the resources necessary to ensure that countries around the world can deploy clean energy solutions in cost-effective ways," reports The Wall Street Journal.

The announcement comes as world leaders converge in Paris for an historic two-week summit on climate change that is focused on creating an international pact to reduce greenhouse gas emission. Obama administration officials said their goal is to encourage innovation that will help curb emissions and limit the rise of global temperatures.

"What we're trying to do in Paris is put in place a long-term framework for further emissions reductions - targets set by each nation, but transparent enough to be verified by other nations," Obama said. "And we'll work to mobilize support to help the most vulnerable countries expand clean energy and adapt to the effects of climate change we can no longer avoid."

Along with the initiative, Gates will also launch the Breakthrough Energy Coalition to help the private-sector push early-stage energy programs into the marketplace. The coalition will work with countries participating in "Mission Innovation" to facilitate "large funding commitments for basic and applied research."

According to its website, the coalition will also focus its investments on "early stage companies that have the potential of an energy future that produces near zero carbon emissions and provides everyone with affordable, reliable energy."

"Given the scale of the challenge, we need to be exploring many different paths, and that means we also need to invent new approaches," Gates explained in a statement. He added that he was "optimistic that we can invent the tools we need" to battle climate change while "providing energy to the world's poor."

The amount of investment planned by the group wasn't announced.

The Microsoft founder has pulled together a pool of wealthy investors that will invest billions into clean energy. The list of participants includes Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeffrey P. Bezos.