Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates delivers a speech at the National Assembly on August 16, 2022 in Seoul, South Korea.
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The concept of becoming a grandpa is emotional for Bill Gates, which he may even write about.
“Recently, I began seeing the world through a recent lens – when my eldest daughter gave me the amazing news that I’ll be a grandpa next yr,” Gates writes in a letter posted just after midnight Tuesday on his personal blog Gates Notes.
Gates’s 26-year-old daughter Jennifer and her husband Nayel Nassar predict their first child in 2023.
“Just typing the phrase ‘I’ll be a grandpa next yr’ gets me emotional,” writes Gates. “This thought gives my work a recent dimension. After I take into consideration the world my grandchild will be born into, I’m more inspired than ever to assist all children and grandchildren have a likelihood to survive and thrive.”
Gates continues, over 12 pages, summarizing the work of his namesake philanthropic organization, The Gates Foundationdoes for kids living in global poverty to enhance education, prepare for the pandemic, and fight polio and AIDS.
Gates also talks about the work he does to combat climate change, each through the Gates Foundation on a philanthropic basis and by supporting early-stage climate corporations along with his investment firm, Breakthrough energy projects.
How well the current generation of leaders responds to climate change will affect future generations, which is the first point Gates makes in the a part of his letter that addresses climate change.
“I can sum up the solution to climate change in two sentences: we must eliminate global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050,” writes Gates. “Extreme weather is already causing more suffering, and if we don’t achieve net-zero emissions, our grandchildren will grow up in a world that’s dramatically worse.”
Attending to zero will be the hardest thing humanity has ever done.
Bill Gates
Co-founder of Microsoft, climate investor
Approaching “the hardest thing humans have ever done” with philanthropy and for-profit corporations
And while the implications of meeting this challenge are clear, so is the magnitude of the challenge.
“I can sum up the challenge in two sentences: attending to zero will be the hardest thing humans have ever done,” writes Gates. “We’d like to revolutionize the entire physical economy – the way we make things, move, generate electricity, grow food, and keep warm and funky – in lower than three a long time.”
Gates began working on climate change when he learned about the struggles of small farmers in countries where his namesake philanthropic organization operated. The Gates Foundation funds climate adaptation work, for instance by helping people adapt to the implications of a warming world where business enterprise isn’t profitable.
“It starts with the concept that the poorest suffer the most from climate change, but corporations don’t have any natural incentive to create tools that help them,” writes Gates.
“A seed company can earn money from, say, a recent sort of tomato that could be a nicer shade of red and doesn’t bruise easily, but has no incentive to provide higher cassava varieties that (a) survive floods and droughts and (b) are low-cost enough for of the world’s low-income farmers,” writes Gates. “The role of the foundation is to be sure that the poorest profit from the same modern skills that richer countries use.”
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Not all of Gates’ climate work is philanthropic. Breakthrough Energy Ventures funds early-stage corporations which might be working to construct and grow corporations to decarbonize various sectors of the economy. Creating for-profit corporations to unravel an issue that affects the well-being of the global population could also be perceived as distasteful in the case of Gates, who already has a small fortune to his name – $103.6 billion in line with Forbes from Monday.
Gates argues that decarbonizing global industry is simply too big an issue even for his deep pockets.
“Philanthropy alone cannot eliminate greenhouse gases. Only markets and governments can achieve this pace and scale,” Gates said. He said any profits Gates gets from his investment in Breakthrough Energy Firms will go to climate work or a philanthropic foundation.
And if the corporations that work on tackling climate change might be self-sustaining and sufficient, then they will find other investors to place money into them besides the likes of Gates, who he has publicly stated is working to offer away his vast resources.
“Firms should be profitable with a purpose to grow, operate and prove that there’s a marketplace for their products,” writes Gates. “It encourages profit will attract other innovators, creating competition that will bring down the price of zero-emission inventions and have a major impact on constructing emissions.”
Greenhouse gas emissions and money spent on climate technology proceed to rise
The bad news is that greenhouse gas emissions proceed to rise.
“Unfortunately, with regards to short-term goals, we are missing the targets. Between 2021 and 2022, global emissions actually increased from 51 billion tons of carbon akin to 52 billion tons,” writes Gates.
On Monday, the United Nations secretary-general also highlighted the bleak reality of the current climate change moment.
“Climate change is one other area where excellent news is difficult to return by. We’re still heading in the mistaken direction.” Antonio Guterres said on Monday. “The worldwide emissions gap is growing. The 1.5 degree objective is breathless. National climate plans are woefully inadequate.”
Despite the bleakness of the current climate situation, one area of optimism for Gates is investing in decarbonisation technologies.
“We’re much further ahead than I predicted a number of years ago in getting corporations to take a position in groundbreaking zero-carbon technologies,” writes Gates.
Public money for climate research and development has increased by a 3rd since the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, and in the United States, laws passed this yr will allocate $500 billion to transition energy infrastructure from fossil fuel sources, in line with Gates.
Private money can also be moving at an excellent pace on climate technologies. Gates writes that enterprise capital firms have invested $70 billion in clean energy start-ups over the past two years.
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