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Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates is softening his tone on the dangers of climate change, which he admits some critics might view as hypocritical.
Gates has long pushed for governments to combat climate change because rising temperatures risk disrupting food supplies and exacerbating poverty. But on Tuesday, the Microsoft co-founder published a blog post that dials back the “doomsday view of climate change.”
“Although climate change will have serious consequences—particularly for people in the poorest countries—it will not lead to humanity’s demise,” he writes. “Unfortunately, the doomsday outlook is causing much of the climate community to focus too much on near-term emissions goals, and it’s diverting resources from the most effective things we should be doing to improve life in a warming world.”
Gates cited “poverty and disease” as two of the biggest problems facing humanity. “Our chief goal should be to prevent suffering, particularly for those in the toughest conditions who live in the world’s poorest countries,” he wrote. “Understanding this will let us focus our limited resources on interventions that will have the greatest impact for the most vulnerable people.”
(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Gates admits his new approach will likely rile up environmentalists. The pivot occurs when Gates himself published a book in 2021 called How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, which specifically warned that “by mid-century, climate change could be just as deadly as COVID-19, and by 2100 it could be five times as deadly.”
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In his blog post, Gates writes: “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,” he added. “Every tenth of a degree of heating that we prevent is hugely beneficial because a stable climate makes it easier to improve people’s lives.”
Still, Gates says it’s necessary “to get the most value out of every dollar spent on helping the poorest,” who currently get “less than 1% of rich countries’ budgets at its highest level.” And that’s “shrinking as rich countries cut their aid budgets and low-income countries are burdened by debt,” according to Gates, who condemned the Trump administration earlier this year for funding cuts to humanitarian aid.
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Gates’ 5,700-word blog post goes on to defend his position. According to Gates, rising temperatures are now inevitable. “Even if the world takes only moderate action to curb climate change, the current consensus is that by 2100 the Earth’s average temperature will probably be between 2°C and 3°C higher than it was in 1850,” he writes.
On the positive side, Gates says existing innovation, including electric cars and the rise of solar and wind power, have already made progress in cutting carbon emissions. Still, the ending to his post signals that the world must prepare to live on a hotter planet.
He urged the global climate community gathering at next month’s UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) and beyond “to make a strategic pivot: prioritize the things that have the greatest impact on human welfare. It’s the best way to ensure that everyone gets a chance to live a healthy and productive life no matter where they’re born, and no matter what kind of climate they’re born into.”
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Michael Kan
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I’ve been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I’m currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country’s technology sector.
Since 2020, I’ve covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I’ve combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink’s cellular service.
I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. Earlier this year, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.
I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I’m now following how President Trump’s tariffs will affect the industry. I’m always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.
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