(Read) Bill Gates acknowledges after years of climate campaigning that humanity will not be wiped out by climate change

 

Bill Gates, a philanthropist and prominent advocate for renewable energy, shocked the climate community by publishing a significant essay in which he argued that the world's resources should be carefully reallocated from the "doomsday" fight against climate change to the fight against hunger and disease.



According to Gates, who established Breakthrough Energy to advance clean technology, climate change would "not lead to humanity’s demise" and the world's top priority should be to stop the immediate suffering of people in the world’s poorest nations.

Ahead of the COP30 global gathering next month, Gates described this as a "strategic pivot" in his essay released on Tuesday, October 28. He contends that previous climate change investments were misdirected and that funds were taken away from more successful life-saving initiatives in favor of the current emphasis on reaching near-term zero carbon emissions.


In establishing his contentious priority metric, Gates said, "Poverty, illness, and climate change are all significant issues. We ought to address them in proportion to the pain they inflict.




In an interview, he went one step further to better emphasize the point, stating that he would "let the temperature go up 0.1 degree to get rid of malaria" if given the choice between eliminating the disease and a tenth of a degree increase in warming.

Recent reductions in international aid have contributed to the demand for this reorientation. In particular, Gates pointed to US President Donald Trump's reductions in foreign aid, such as USAID, which provided $8 billion in yearly assistance for food and medicine, as causing a more serious, life-threatening issue that necessitates quick funding.


He went on to say that "Health and prosperity are the best defense against climate change," citing research from the University of Chicago Climate Impact Lab to support his claim that projected deaths from climate change will decline dramatically if economic growth and health improve.

Despite his denial that the stance is a complete reversal, Gates has come under heavy fire from climate scientists for the change, which stands in stark contrast to his previous rhetoric and insists that funding for zero-carbon initiatives must continue. Gates is criticized for presenting a "false dichotomy."


A large portion of the suffering Gates now prioritizes is caused directly or indirectly by climate change, according to Jennifer Francis, Senior Scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center. "Curing the disease (emissions)" and "treating the symptoms" like hunger and ill health must remain the emphasis of investment, she said.

"There is no greater threat to developing nations than the climate crisis," said Michael Mann, Director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability & the Media, in a summary of the opposition. He has everything backwards.


In his final memo, Gates exhorts governments, activists, and philanthropists to strictly concentrate humanitarian funds on quantifiable initiatives that have the greatest potential to improve human welfare.