In a recent post on his Gates Notes website, American billionaire Bill Gates made waves by advocating for a shift in priorities in the global response to the climate crisis.
Rather than placing climate change at the forefront, Gates expressed a preference for directing more attention toward combating disease and poverty.
His 17-page memo, aimed at influencing the upcoming COP 30 summit in Brazil, emphasizes a broader humanitarian focus. Gates described the event as “a chance to refocus on the metric that should count even more than emissions and temperature change: improving lives”.
He also acknowledged the gravity of climate change but downplayed its severity, stating;
“Although climate change will have serious consequences – particularly for people in the poorest countries – it will not lead to humanity’s demise.”
Gates’ environmental philanthropy and the strategic pivot
Bill Gates leads the Gates Foundation and Breakthrough Energy; so he is a foremost voice in human-centered philanthropy and clean energy.
But, earlier this year, Breakthrough Energy reportedly cut dozens of staffers. The New York Times reported in March that the “change shows how Mr. Gates is retooling his empire for the Trump era.”
Gates also said that pulling back from climate investment was a “huge disappointment,” albeit a necessary one; echoing the voices of many silicon valley execs in the Trump era who feel the climate goals are unrealistic in the age of data centers and the AI race.
In the memo, the American billionaire argued that too many resources are focused on emissions and the environment, and that more money should go toward “improving lives” and curbing diseases and poverty.
If given a choice between eradicating malaria and a tenth of a degree increase in warming, Gates told reporters;
“I’ll let the temperature go up 0.1 degree to get rid of malaria. People don’t understand the suffering that exists today.”
What do scientists think of the “strategic pivot?”
Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, was scathing. “There is no reason to pit poverty reduction versus climate transformation. Both are utterly feasible, and readily so, if the Big Oil lobby is brought under control”.
“His words are bound to be misused by those who would like nothing more than to destroy efforts to deal with climate change,” Princeton professor Michael Oppenheimer told the New York Times.
Oppenheimer also expressed dismay at the human-centric nature of Gates’ comments which he said doesn’t account for the well-being of other species and the natural environment.
“Climate change is already wreaking havoc there,” he wrote in an email. “Can we truly live in a technological bubble? Do we want to?”
However, others say Gates’ comments highlights an “overdue” reality. “Without ensuring people benefit from climate action, people won’t act,” says Julio Friedmann, chief scientist at Carbon Direct.
Some say the memo risks framing climate action as a rival to poverty alleviation.
Bill Gates, 70, is one of the world’s billionaires.
With a net worth of more than $100bn, Gates is richer than many countries with millions of people.
So, one might be forgiven for thinking that he, and other billionaires, have enough finances to tackle both the climate crisis and poverty simultaneously.
A day after the release of Gates’ memo, Hurricane Melissa struck the Caribbean islands wreaking immense infrastructural damages worth billions of dollars, and claiming multiple lives.