Bill Gates urges UN climate summit to refocus on improving lives
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Bill Gates is calling on world leaders gathering at an annual climate summit next month to rethink progress through the lens of human development.
Why it matters: The comments signal a shifted public posture from the Microsoft co-founder, who's among the world's top funders of both new climate technologies and initiatives to save lives from disease and poverty.
Driving the news: Gates — who isn't attending the United Nations climate meeting in Belém, Brazil, starting Nov. 10 — praised the summit's focus on adaptation and human development.
- He called the moment "a chance to refocus on the metric that should count even more than emissions and temperature change: improving lives."
- In a 17-page memo titled "Three tough truths about climate," Gates writes: "Our chief goal should be to prevent suffering, particularly for those in the toughest conditions who live in the world's poorest countries."
The big picture: Gates' comments reflect how the zeitgeist — especially in the United States — has pushed climate change off the front burner.
- War, President Trump's trade skirmishes, and battles over democracy are dominating political attention and media headlines.
- Meanwhile, AI exuberance — and its fantastical energy demands — is grabbing attention and dollars within the energy and climate sectors.
Flashback: Gates' public focus has shifted over the years, too.
- After publishing a book in 2021 called "How to Avoid A Climate Disaster" and expanding his climate work into policy and advocacy, he scaled back earlier this year.
- While preserving his venture investments, he has cut parts of Breakthrough Energy, an organization he funds to support climate technologies, and has doubled down on funding for the Gates Foundation.
Friction point: Gates, one of the world's wealthiest people who regularly faces criticism for his big carbon footprint as a billionaire, sought to preemptively address those critics.
- "I know that some climate advocates will disagree with me, call me a hypocrite because of my own carbon footprint (which I fully offset with legitimate carbon credits), or see this as a sneaky way of arguing that we shouldn't take climate change seriously."
- "To be clear: Climate change is a very important problem. It needs to be solved, along with other problems like malaria and malnutrition."
Catch up quick: The memo updates readers on his climate investments, highlights initiatives he deems misguided and articulates how improved lives mean better protection in a warming world.
Zoom in: "While we need to limit the number of extremely hot and cold days, we also need to make sure that fewer people live in poverty and poor health so that extreme weather isn't such a threat to them," Gates writes.
What's next: Gates urged the UN and global leaders to focus on lowering the cost of new technologies and evaluating climate efforts based on their return for human well-being.
Disclosure: Amy Harder is a former employee of Breakthrough Energy in her role leading Cipher News, an independent news outlet supported by Breakthrough Energy.
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