Blair to advise Silicon Valley on environment

Former prime minister Tony Blair is joining a Silicon Valley firm in California as a senior adviser on environmental issues.

Khosla Ventures announced the partnership with Mr Blair yesterday during an event in Sausalito.

The firm, started by Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla, has invested billions in companies pursuing alternative fuel strategies and other environmentally-minded technologies.

Mr Khosla said Mr Blair would advise clean technology start-ups on how to meet their business goals.

"He's going to help us in many areas that techie nerds like us here in Silicon Valley don't understand and tend to underestimate the importance of," Mr Khosla said.

Since leaving office three years ago, Mr Blair has urged policy makers and businessmen to work together on environmental problems.

"I'm more and more convinced that unless we connect and align the public policy space with the creativity and ingenuity and innovation of the entrepreneurs, we're not going to resolve this issue," he said.

"The answer to this has got to lie in science and technology."

It was not disclosed how much he is getting paid in this new role.

Mr Blair said he would continue to work on his other projects, including his Breaking the Climate Deadlock Initiative in support of an international framework on global warming.