President Obama’s former Under Secretary for Energy, Cathy Zoi, is to join the team of a new clean energy investment fund.

Ms Zoi, who recently resigned from the US government where she was also Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, has been recruited by Silver Lake private equity firm for its Kraftwerk fund.

And billionaire George Soros will act as a strategic partner for the fund via his company Soros Fund Management.

Operating out of offices in Silicon Valley and China, the new fund will invest in companies that utilise technology and business model innovation to improve energy efficiency, reduce waste and emissions, harness renewable energy, and more efficiently use natural resources

Mr Soros said: “Developing alternative sources of energy and achieving greater energy efficiency is both a significant global investment opportunity and an environmental imperative.”

Silver Lake operates out of offices in New York, San Francisco, London, Hong Kong and Tokyo and manages funds worth over £8.5bn.

Ms Zoi is the founding chief executive of the Alliance for Climate Protection, which was set up by Al Gore, and she served under Gore in the Clinton administration as Chief of Staff in the White House Office on Environmental Policy.