Days before the world’s major nations gather in Brazil for the COP30 climate summit, Microsoft founder Bill Gates issued a note claiming that climate change will not end civilization.
The memo, published Tuesday on his Gates Notes blog, called for both a pragmatic and proportionate approach when it comes to dealing with the effects of global warming.
Gates, himself a big proponent of green technology, said climate change will have “serious consequences” but that “people will be able to live and thrive in most places on Earth for the foreseeable future.”
He also writes about how he believes some climate advocates may disagree with his views and even call him a hypocrite given the carbon footprint he leaves behind. Gates claims to offset the same with “legitimate” carbon credits.
Gates Against the “Doomsday Prospect”
Gates does not support what he calls a “doomsday outlook” because he believes such sentiments will force the climate community to “focus too much on short-term emissions targets,” diverting resources from what he calls “the most effective things we should be doing to make life better in a warming world.”
In a blog post, Gates outlines “Three Hard Truths About Climate”, i.e. 1. climate change will not end human civilization, 2. temperature is not the best measure of progress in the fight against climate change, and 3. health and prosperity may be humanity’s strongest defense in an ever-warming world.
It points out that global warming will be below three degrees Celsius by 2100 and that innovation will be essential to combat the climate crisis.
“Over the last 10 years, we have reduced projected emissions by more than 40 percent,” Gates said.
Gates insists that it is far more important to ensure that “fewer people live in poverty and in poor health, so that extreme weather is not as much of a threat to them”.
The article goes on to point to five sectors that emit all greenhouse gases: manufacturing, electricity generation, agriculture, transport and buildings. It then looks at each sector and explains how to make them more environmentally friendly, and also points out that prioritizing simply reducing emissions and ignoring concerns such as a steady food supply could prove harmful in the long run.
He compared the note he wrote to the note he sent to his team at Microsoft 30 years ago, asking them to put the Internet at the center of everything they did. He believes the community striving for a greener planet needs a “strategic center” at COP30 and beyond.
