This paper notes that while uptake of renewable energies as a solution to climate change is widely discussed, the issue of public vs. private financing has not yet been adequately explored. The debates surrounding the Kyoto Protocol or its successor, as found in the COP15 Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, maintained a strong preference for public over private financing. The authors point out that according to most observers, the energy revolution will not happen without the involvement of private finance or for that matter, private investment. In this viewpoint, the authors discuss the ways in which private financing could be mobilised to drive the energy industrial revolution that is needed if climate change mitigation is to succeed.