Bill Gates brought you computer Windows, but now wants to help keep the environment outside your real ones protected from climate change. The billionaire is tackling the issue head-on and his new book, How To Avoid A Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have And The Breakthroughs We Need.
His plan boils down to one main number - 51 Billion. That's the amount of greenhouse gases added into our atmosphere every year from of activity of human activities. According to Gates, we need to drop that number down to zero by 2050 in order to avoid a crisis.
This is where most people will ask, "Oh yeah, what's his plan for it?" In this case, he has one. It stretches beyond words and hopes. Gates knows a way to get it done and when someone who has achieved so much success across the technology sector presents a battle plan to avoid a major crisis, people tend to listen.
In an interview with Forbes about his book, Bill not only talked about what was in the pages, but also the details that weren't delved, like the large amount he has invested in zero-carbon companies, including a "new kind" of nuclear power plant.
Gates says the first action that needs to be taken is to identify where the problem is at its worst. He says that it begins by figuring out which industries are producing the 51 billion tons of greenhouse gases and handling things from there, reworking who is doing the damage and how to mitigate future effects.
“The actual numeric framework, which is the most basic thing for any problem you want to tackle...that’s really been missing,” Gates explained via satellite from his office in Seattle.
The Microsoft guru insists that climate change could be five times as deadly as the COVID-19 pandemic by the time we round the new century and he's putting his money where his mouth is by focusing investments on technologies that remove GHG emissions. Some include long-distance decarbonized power transmission, safe nuclear reactors, zero-carbon cement and steel, and food waste–tracking systems. As of today, he has invested over $2 Billion in this belief and he plans on investing much more.
It's an issue that Gates has been passionate about for quite some time and one that, as one of the richest men on Earth, he can do his part to handle. Luckily, he feels that this is the right time as the new generation is just as passionate. With 2100 being a feasible year for many of today's infants to encounter, the problem isn't as distant as it once felt.
"We have more educated people than ever. We have a generation that's speaking out on this topic. And, you know, I got to participate in the miracle of the personal computer and the internet. And so, yes, I have a bias to believe innovation can do these things," he told CBS News.
Sources: Forbes, CBS News, Strategy Business