Climate change “will not lead to humanity’s demise,” billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has argued in a lengthy memo calling for a balanced and pragmatic response to human-caused global warming.
The statement, published late on Monday ahead of the COP30 climate summit in Brazil, commended the meeting’s emphasis on climate adaptation and human development.
Gates, the Microsoft co-founder and founder of the green investment initiative Breakthrough Energy, acknowledged that climate change would have “serious consequences” but insisted that “people will be able to live and thrive in most places on Earth for the foreseeable future.”
He admitted that some climate activists might brand him a hypocrite because of his carbon footprint, but said he fully offsets it with “legitimate” carbon credits.
In the memo titled Three Tough Truths About Climate, Gates outlined that:
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Climate change will not end civilisation;
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Temperature is not the best measure of progress; and
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Health and prosperity are humanity’s strongest defences against a warming planet.
While the world remains off track in meeting the Paris Agreement’s target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, Gates urged people to focus less on the exact figure and more on the tangible progress being made to cut emissions.
He stressed that, for much of the developing world, poverty and disease still pose greater immediate threats than rising temperatures.
“Our chief goal should be to prevent suffering, particularly for those in the toughest conditions who live in the world’s poorest countries,” he said.
Gates argued that the global community should focus less on counting extreme weather events and more on ensuring “fewer people live in poverty and poor health, so that extreme weather isn’t such a threat to them.”
Looking ahead, he said a key climate objective should be to eliminate the “green premium” — the extra cost of producing clean alternatives to polluting materials like cement, steel, and jet fuel.
Drawing a comparison with his 1990s memo urging Microsoft to prioritise the internet, Gates said the climate community also needs a “strategic pivot” at COP30 and beyond.
“Prioritise the things that have the greatest impact on human welfare,” he concluded.