Bill Gates defends contentious climate shift
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo illustration: Axios Visuals. Photo: Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images, Gates Notes
Bill Gates on Monday night defended criticism from all sides about his controversial memo calling for a shift to prioritizing human welfare in climate debates.
Why it matters: Gates' response to the widespread and polarizing reactions to his own shifting positions shows the high stakes of this debate and his influence as a major funder of both climate and public health initiatives.
Driving the news: Gates, in an interview with Axios Monday night in front of roughly 1,000 Caltech students, talked at length about the memo, his broader views on energy and climate change and more.
"I'm glad people are listening," he said, before adding that it was hard to convey "nuanced positions nowadays."
State of play: Since the Microsoft co-founder published the memo on Oct. 28, reaction has been wide-reaching and fierce. Numerous conservative leaders — including President Trump — are cheering what they described as a wholesale retreat for the billionaire philanthropist.
- "I (WE!) just won the War on the Climate Change Hoax. Bill Gates has finally admitted that he was completely WRONG on the issue. It took courage to do so, and for that we are all grateful," Trump posted last week on Truth Social.
"It's a gigantic misreading of the memo," Gates said of Trump's post and others like it. He said his funding toward addressing climate change and public health measures are both going up.
- "I didn't think the memo was going to convert the non-believers into believers, and sure enough, it didn't convert them," Gates said.
Context: Gates has ramped up his funding of the Gates Foundation while announcing its closure in 2045. He cut some parts of his clean energy group, Breakthrough Energy, earlier this year, but he is continuing his venture capital investments and has talked about increasing them.
Friction point: Gates also pushed back against climate scientists who said he was setting up a false dichotomy pitting climate efforts against foreign aid.
- "What world do they live in?" Gates said. He went on to say that foreign aid budgets going to poorer countries do often choose between climate and health. "This is a numeric game in a world with very finite resources, more finite than they should be," Gates said.
The intrigue: Gates briefly waded into the controversial topic of geoengineering.
- He said society should consider using geoengineering — a set of controversial technologies that could temporarily reduce global temperatures — if the planet reaches so-called "tipping points" where non-linear climatic changes occur.
- A funder of research into geoengineering, Gates also expressed concerns, namely that such technology could take away arguments to reduce emissions. He also said local impacts from geoengineering must be understood.
Inside the room: The roughly hour-long talk focused mostly on the memo and related topics. He did touch on AI a few different times, including a concluding lightning round where he said it was highly likely that the AI industry has a lot of over-valued companies.
What we're watching: A group of climate scientists is talking about Gates' memo in a virtual briefing today hosted by Covering Climate Now.
Disclosure: Amy Harder is the former founding executive editor of Cipher News, an independent news outlet supported by Bill Gates' climate and energy initiative Breakthrough Energy.
