Bill Gates: Three things I learnt about the tech giant
He admits the climate crisis is 'daunting' but is surprisingly positive about the future
“It's a daunting problem,” he admits. Especially, given the political seesawing we’ve seen in climate pledges in the UK, US and Europe.
“The constancy of the government saying, yes, we will impose a tax on dirty steel or raise the gasoline taxes to accelerate the transition to electric cars...If you lose that consensus, then our progress could really get slow,” he stresses.
But seeing firsthand how big an impact climate change is having on people keeps him motivated.
“When I go to Africa, and I see the tough conditions there... It makes me think, Okay, can we fix this,” he tells me. And as one of the richest people on Earth, he’s certainly in a good position to do so.
He’s channelling billions of dollars into climate solutions
One of the things Bill Gates tells me is that he believes we’ll be able to develop new technologies that help solve the climate crisis. “Fortunately, humans are very innovative,” he tells me. “I'm seeing great ideas.”
Take cement. Surprisingly, this building material contributes around 8% of the world’s planet-warming gases. Mr Gates is helping to fund new types of green cement, which would drastically cut those emissions.
He’s also funding other projects, including the development of stress-tolerant cassava and maize seed varieties that will grow across Africa – a continent that’s incredibly vulnerable to climate change yet has contributed little to the crisis.
“I'm putting billions into climate [solutions] to try and speed up the progress,” says Bill Gates. “I do see that people are coming together and committing to this and so we won't go anywhere near those really big temperature increases.”
His top climate actions
Mr Gates tells me he’s reducing his own carbon footprint. Alongside his huge investments in climate tech, he drives an electric car, powers his private jet with biofuels, has solar panels on his roof and pays $9 million a year to offset his emissions.
Of course, Bill has a lot more money and power than most of us. But that doesn’t mean he thinks we, as individuals, shouldn’t get involved in stopping the climate crisis.
"We need individuals to be fully engaged,” he argues and says there are three things we could be doing:
- Thinking about what we buy, from the car we drive to the food on your plate. “Their voice in the marketplace really matters to get these [eco] products bootstrapped and going,” he explains, pointing to lab-grown meats as an example.
- Encouraging your employer to be ‘an exemplar’ in the fight against climate change. This could be through asking your boss to make green pensions the default option for all employees or using only renewable energy.
- Voting for leaders who prioritise climate action. “If they live in a democracy, they can say, yes, I want my country to be at the forefront of this,” Mr Gates affirms.
