A recent article, “Three Tough Truths About Climate,” written by Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, head of the Gates Foundation, founder of Breakthrough Energy, an investment company focused on advancing net-zero carbon technology companies, and a strong advocate for addressing global health and poverty challenges, aligns with the aspirations of those currently attending COP30 in Belém, Brazil.
Gates declares that the doomsday view of climate change, as professed by so many concerned with global warming, is putting the wrong emphasis on the challenges we face.
Unlike many who are passionate about combating climate change, Gates has a more pragmatic and directed approach to solving the problems humanity and the planet face in the 21st century. In this article, he states categorically and unequivocally that rising temperatures will not mean the end of the planet and the demise of humanity; that we will continue to thrive in most of the places where we live today and for the foreseeable future.
Gates knows that climate change is serious, but he sees progress and technological breakthroughs providing the means for us to reduce carbon emissions and atmospheric temperature rise and eventually solve the problem.
His message to COP30 attendees in Brazil is not to solely fixate on rising temperatures in their discussions, but rather “to refocus on the metric that should count even more than emissions and temperature change: improving lives. Our chief goal should be to prevent suffering, particularly for those in the toughest conditions who live in the world’s poorest countries.”
Gates sees climate change hurting the poor more than anyone else, and that poverty and disease represent a much greater threat to humanity. So, he wants to see climate change solved, but wants an equal effort made to solve diseases like malaria, and to address food insecurity and malnutrition.
Gates’ perspective isn’t a climate change copout. He is not joining the ranks of climate-change deniers, who, since this article was published, have embraced it as proof that he is one of them. Gates, however, isn’t and remains focused on seeing strong climate action come out of COP30. Those in the climate change movement who see him as a turncoat are wrong.
Gates’ message is that climate change, fighting diseases like malaria, and addressing malnutrition and food insecurity are somewhat intertwined. He notes that for every tenth of a degree of warming, vector-borne diseases and food insecurity spread.
That’s why he wants to see efforts coming out of COP30 that finance climate change initiatives to also help those most vulnerable to it, recognizing the correlation with disease and malnutrition.
Gates has been a strong advocate for action on climate change, but as the co-founder of Microsoft, a technology company that changed the world, he believes that our tech-savvy abilities will give us the means to develop solutions to curb it. He points to current evidence: our growing use of renewable solar, wind, geothermal and battery energy over coal and other fossil fuels, the electrification of transportation and manufacturing, new nuclear fission reactor technologies that reduce the waste issue, accelerated progress on commercial fusion, new carbon capture and sequestration technologies and inventions, and more.
Gates believes that “temperature is not the best way to measure our progress on climate,” and that better measures are wrapped around the quality of life meaning:
- Reducing food scarcity through practical, affordable agricultural innovation for small plot farms.
- Providing practical shelter and cooling solutions to accommodate extreme heat, and that diminish flood risk by moving to higher ground.
- Developing vaccines that combat vector-borne diseases.
- Using artificial intelligence (AI) to speed up the pace of technological innovation.
Gates started Breakthrough Energy in 2015 after the Paris Climate Agreement. His goal was to find breakthrough companies to build with low-carbon cement and steel, electrify transportation, and generate zero-emission energy. He remains optimistic that technological innovation will curb climate change, pointing to existing improvements in all these areas. Getting to net zero will mean more breakthroughs, and AI will help speed up our ability to invent needed solutions.
Gates concludes his article with a direct appeal to the attendees at COP30, urging them “to make a strategic pivot: prioritize the things that have the greatest impact on human welfare. It’s the best way to ensure that everyone gets a chance to live a healthy and productive life, no matter where they’re born, and no matter what kind of climate they’re born into.”
I understand where he is coming from. I’m not sure COP30 is the venue for this plea.
