What Bill Gates Thinks About Climate Change
Image courtesy of Masaru Kamikura under Attribution 2.0 Generic Deed, resized to 700 x 391 pixels.
Bill Gates – the man, the myth, the legend – has no problem giving his opinion on some of mankind’s greatest challenges, from the rise of AI, to the brittle global economy, to climate change. And it is that last topic that has grabbed Bill’s attention recently, so much so that he recently distributed a lengthy memo about it. And what he pontificates about in the memo is very interesting indeed!
Bill Gates Does Not Believe Climate Change Will End Civilization
Bill issued his memo just a few days before the COP30 climate summit in Brazil (November 10-21, 2025), whose leadership Gates praised for prioritizing climate adaptation. While Gates believes that climate change “will not lead to humanity’s demise,” it is his belief that it will likely result in other calamities. Specifically, natural disasters will continue to increase in size and frequency, which is obviously relevant from an emergency preparedness perspective. Gates also said that climate change could make global poverty and disease worse if changes are not made.
A key climate strategy outlined in the memo is to reduce the “green premium,” which is the cost difference between operating clean and dirty. The argument seems to be that clean ways of operating will never be adopted by the masses if it costs too much to do compared to the ‘regular’ dirty way. Not a bad way of looking at it.
Gates also said climate leaders need to “prioritize the things that have the greatest impact on human welfare” and ensure “fewer people live in poverty and poor health.”
Unfortunately, critics have attacked the memo, claiming it lacks details on how things can be improved. And while I agree that it is short on substance, that’s okay because he’s really just trying to boost awareness. It’s not his job to come up with the solutions in my opinion.
At the end of the day, Bill Gates cares deeply about our planet’s future, and I applaud him for taking action.
