Dubbed Mission Innovation the initiative will see 20 countries committing to double their investments in clean energy research and development over the next five years the White House said.

Those countries represent 80 percent of global research and development budgets in that area.

"These additional resources will dramatically expand the new technologies that will define a future global power mix that is clean affordable and reliable" the White House said in a fact sheet Sunday without providing firm financial figures.

A separate independent initiative being launched at the same time dubbed the Breakthrough Energy Coalition involves a group of private investors headed by Bill Gates that will market the Mission Innovation programs.

"While significant progress has been made in cost reduction and deployment of clean energy technologies the pace of innovation and the scale of transformation is falling far short of what is required" the White House said.

US government investments of more than $5 billion in the area currently range from basic research to demonstration activities.

Mission Innovation includes countries across the world from Australia China and India to Brazil Canada and Chile. Participation is open to other countries as well.

The White House said it was "essential" to increase clean energy innovation in order to limit global temperature increases to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (two Celsius) above pre-industrial levels the United Nations target ceiling.