Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates addresses the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea on August 16, 2022.
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The thought of becoming a grandparent is emotional bill gates I even write about
“I recently started seeing the world through a new lens when my older daughter told me the incredible news that I was going to be a grandpa next year,” Gates said Tuesday. Shortly after midnight he wrote a letter that was published on his personal blog, The Gates Note.
Gates’ 26-year-old daughter, Jennifer, and husband Naiel Nassar are expecting their first baby in 2023.
“Just typing the phrase ‘I’m going to be a grandpa next year’ makes me emotional,” Gates wrote. “And that idea brings a new dimension to my work. When I think about the world my grandchildren will be born into, I want more than ever to help every child and grandchild have a chance to survive and thrive. I think.”
Over a dozen pages, Gates summarizes the activities of his eponymous charity. gates foundationworks for children living in global poverty to improve education, pandemic preparedness and the fight against polio and AIDS.
Gates also talks about the work he’s doing to combat climate change. This is done both by doing philanthropic work through the Gates Foundation and by supporting early-stage climate companies at his investment firm. Groundbreaking energy venture.
How well the current generation of leaders do in dealing with climate change will affect future generations. This is the first thing Gates says in the section of his letter dealing with climate change.
“The solution to climate change can be summed up in two sentences: By 2050, we must eliminate global greenhouse gas emissions,” Gates wrote. “Extreme weather is already causing more suffering. If we don’t reach net-zero emissions, our grandchildren will grow up in a dramatically worse world.”
Going to zero is the hardest thing humanity has ever done.
bill gates
Microsoft co-founder, climate investor
Approach ‘the most difficult thing mankind has ever done’ in charity or commercial enterprise
And while the implications of meeting that challenge are clear, so is the scale of the challenge.
“This challenge can be summed up in two sentences: Reaching zero is the hardest thing humans have ever done,” Gates wrote. “Within 30 years, we need to revolutionize the entire physical economy: how we make things, how we move, how we generate electricity, how we grow food, how we keep things warm and cold.”
Gates started working on climate change when he learned that smallholder farmers were struggling in countries where his eponymous charity works. The Gates Foundation funds climate change adaptation efforts. For example, helping people adapt to the effects of global warming. In this world, no profits are made by commercial enterprises.
“It starts with the idea that the poorest people suffer the most from climate change, but companies have no natural incentive to create tools to help them,” Gates wrote.
“Seed companies, for example, could benefit from newer types of tomatoes that are redder and less rotten, but (a) withstand floods and droughts, and (b) are cheap enough for the world’s low-income farmers.” Gates writes. “The foundation’s role is to ensure that the poorest people benefit from the same innovative skills that benefit richer countries.”
Not all of Gates’ climate change efforts are philanthropic. Breakthrough Energy Ventures provides funding to early stage companies working to build and grow companies that aim to decarbonize various sectors of the economy. Setting up a for-profit company to address issues affecting the well-being of the world’s population may seem offensive, given that Gates himself already has a small fortune to his name. — $103.6 billion according to Forbes As of Monday.
Gates says the decarbonization of global industry is a big deal, even for his deep pockets.
“Charity alone cannot eliminate greenhouse gases. Only markets and governments can achieve such pace and scale,” Gates said. The profits Gates makes from his breakthrough investments in energy companies will go back to climate change efforts and charities, he said.
And if companies working to address climate change are able to function fully on their own, like Gates, as he publicly states, to provide his vast resources. You can get other investors to provide money besides those who work for you.
“Companies need to grow, stay in business, and be profitable so they can prove there is a market for their products,” Gates wrote. “Profit incentives attract other innovators, drive down prices for zero-emission inventions, and create competition that meaningfully impacts emissions from buildings.”
Greenhouse gas emissions and funding for climate technology are both still rising
The bad news is that greenhouse gas emissions are still increasing.
“Unfortunately, we have not reached our short-term targets. Global emissions have actually increased from 51 billion tonnes of carbon equivalent to 52 billion tonnes between 2021 and 2022,” Gates said. is writing
On Monday, the UN Secretary-General also underscored the current harsh realities of climate change.
“Climate change is another area where good news is hard to find. We are still on the wrong track.” Antonio Guterres said on Monday“The global emissions gap is widening. The 1.5 degree target is out of breath. National climate planning is woefully inadequate.”
One area of optimism for Gates, despite the current gloom of climate change, is investing in decarbonization technologies.
Gates writes, “It’s far more advanced than I could have predicted a few years ago when it comes to encouraging companies to invest in zero-carbon breakthroughs.”
Public funding for climate research and development has increased by a third since the 2015 Paris Climate Accord, and in the United States, legislation passed this year will move the energy infrastructure away from fossil fuel-based energy sources. $500 billion will be invested in Gate.
Private money is also pouring into climate change technology. Venture capital firms have invested $70 billion in clean energy startups over the past two years, Gates writes.
