{"id":77868,"date":"2022-09-10T10:54:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T14:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=77868"},"modified":"2022-09-12T09:37:09","modified_gmt":"2022-09-12T13:37:09","slug":"bill-gates-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/bill-gates-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Gates: How to Fight Climate Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is Bill Gates’s take on climate change? What can we do collectively to curb emissions that are heating our planet?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill Gates’s decades of philanthropy inform his views on the urgent need to address climate change while still encouraging development. In his book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster<\/a><\/em>, he highlights the roles governments, private entities, and individuals must play if we hope to eliminate carbon emissions by 2050. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, we’ll discuss Bill Gates’s proposed solutions to tackling climate change<\/a> at the level of governments, businesses, and individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

National Government<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to Gates, the most meaningful reductions in carbon emissions will start at the highest levels of government <\/strong>because they can create and enforce the large-scale policies needed to achieve significant carbon reduction<\/a> quickly. However, Gates recognizes that enacting change at the highest levels of government is challenging for many reasons, including:   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entrenched Systems<\/strong>: Our current systems are set up for fossil fuels. A switch to carbon-less energy would necessitate modifications at every level of government, from international trade agreements and economic policies to physical infrastructure (including a new national power grid) and building codes, down to outfitting individual homes for renewable energy sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changing Administrations<\/strong>: Turnover is a significant challenge for climate activism in government because different elected officials and administrations have different agendas, priorities, and methods. Therefore, it can be difficult to enact meaningful climate policy and see it through before terms run out or political priorities change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lack of Funding<\/strong>: Gates explains that only .02% of the global economy<\/a> is currently directed toward climate-related research and development. Given the potentially devastating impacts of climate change, Bill Gates suggests that this figure should be much<\/em> higher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: To Gates, government hesitancy about investing in carbon-less energy is nonsensical. Instead, he explains that governments should be rushing to invest in climate-related technology because any green technology<\/a> that can outcompete fossil fuels in price and efficiency will be guaranteed a massive international market.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cost of Shifting to Greener Energy Sources<\/strong>: Markets favor fossil fuels because they\u2019re cheap relative to other energy sources. Additionally, governments have historically subsidized fossil fuels to keep prices down instead of pushing the market towards carbon-less alternatives. Gates explains that governments should take an active role in making green energy affordable because once carbon-less energy can match or beat fossil fuel prices, addressing global warming will make financial sense<\/strong> whether individuals, businesses, or countries are committed to reducing emissions or not. For example, governments could:<\/p>\n\n\n\n