Public sentiment is overwhelmingly negative towards both Trump and Gates, with a significant number of commenters expressing skepticism about their motives and qualifications regarding climate change. Many see Gates as primarily profit-driven and manipulative, while Trump is viewed as leveraging the situation for political gain. A prevalent theme is the belief that climate change discussions serve elite interests rather than genuine environmental concerns, leading to calls for accountability and a demand for authentic scientific discourse.

Donald Trump

Bill Gates

I agree, Bill Gates. Climate change is a very important problem. It needed to be solved yesterday by implementing a 99.9% wealth tax on your fortune to pay for the costs.

Release the Epstein files.

IG0tB4nn3dL0l

I feel like he's talking past a number of very serious recent developments that are not man made emmissions - methane and the failure of natural carbon sinks. I don't know what models make Bill think its all ok, but this comes of as dismissive, while the scientific community is increasingly alarmed.

Alarming_Award5575

As a lovely gentleman who is buying up defaulted American farm land while crying about climate change, you make some interesting points. Your green wash almost convinces me that you care. Well done, sir.

Altitudeviation

Climate change is mostly a behavioral problem, one of decadence.  
We can look at an energy transition and /or technological tools to assist, it will not be enough without sobering down big time.  
And the longer we wait, the more sobering down is needed in a shorter timespan.

Taxes will not help in a constructive way and this will allow richer people to continue polluting more than poor people.  
And the focus of this sobering down needs to be in the richer countries as well, because more wealth means more pollution exponentially, in most cases.

The poorer people are polluting less because of limits in options, in general.

fastbikkel

The problem with Bill Gates’s “hard truth” is it’s simply not true. In his climate book he makes very clear the grave threat humanity faces. A few years later this existential problem is not just solved. We still are on the precipice of a series of tipping points that will cause suffering for millions, if not billions. 

Now, if Bill wants to redirect his immense wealth from climate to fill in for the cruel cuts of the Trump administration, that’s his prerogative and a just cause. But calling for all others to do the same, and abandon climate because he is, is as misguided as it is dangerous. 

For all the reasons he made clear in his own book, it’s still vital the world focuses on accelerating the clean energy transition. While it may not be life or death for the human race, not addressing this issue with the urgency it deserves will be the death of far too many for generations to come. Deaths we can and should avoid.

PersonRealHuman

Fuck me its insane how effective the philanthropy propaganda is. Just look at the comments here for proof.

Remind me, if I ever make a billion from a criminal monopoly, to give 10% of it away so that redditers can suck my dick and remind me that im the best thing since chocolate ice cream every fucking day.

Best_Blueberry_7325

Here's Bill at the link:

&gt;Climate change is serious, but we’ve made great progress.

Emissions on a great record pace, temperatures at great record highs...

&gt;But we can’t cut funding for health and development—

Too late. Bill's pet projects are going awry too, so he wants to be at the head of the line.

&gt;This is a chance to refocus on the metric that should count even more than emissions and temperature change: improving lives. Our chief goal should be to prevent suffering,

'Improve lives' isn't a metric. He's not serious. Reducing emissions improves lives and lowers suffering. High temperatures increase suffering.

DanoPinyon

The key fallacy in his statement that is suppose to encourage us is emission PROJECTIONS are coming down. That is gaslight 2.0. Emissions are increasing and in 2024, at an increased pace. That is for up to 3 reasons…and none are good. 1. We are emitting more 2. The natural carbon sinks are maxed 3. Both 1 and 2 are happening in conjunction. So he can quote all the projections he wants but the reality things are still getting worse. Until all the stakeholders…Big Carbon, Investment Funds and Utilities are nationalized and then replaced, we are on the path to a collapse. The Society Of English Actuaries (close to that name) predicts 4 billion dead by 2050. Bill has done a lot for the poor and should be commended for his charitable work but his buy some fucking carbon credits is a joke.

Gregar12

Microsoft has a $135 billion stake in energy starved OpenAI; AI is adding enormous amounts of GHG emissions annually; Bill Gates =&gt; "Stop worrying about emissions".   Silver lining, some countries are proving that you can drive down emissions (e.g. China), and Bill is making a fool of himself. I guess he got old enough to not care about greenwashing his reputation with philanthropy???

Fun-Hearing2931

Hey Bill? Tell me again how Jamaica is gonna do after the hurricane.

Illustrious-Ice6336

Is he just posturing for the current US Gov? It seems like it to say this publically, but act differently in investments.

anaxcepheus32

If you look at the 23 hottest years of all time, they’ve all occurred in the last 24 years. And the hottest of all was 2024, followed by 2023. The two largest years of carbon emissions were also 2023 &amp; 2024. We are on track to go past 450ppm carbon in the atmosphere within a decade. The last time there was 400ppm the earth was between 2.5 and 4 degrees warmer. And with 82% of energy coming from fossil fuels we have no way to replace that. So we will get hotter. 80% of scientists think we’ll get around 3 degrees minimum. Also we have no idea if the climate will ever be stable again on a human timescale.

He’s correct, the next few decades i.e. the rest of his life, things will be mostly fine. For many, many others it will become increasingly unbearable. That number will just increase.

Weldobud

To add a different perspective, the billionaires are not our saviors. They are not knowledgeable about climate change or solutions to world health crises (some which are a direct result of the overall health of our planet). What is most problematic about a guy like Gates, when he convinces himself he is right, he rarely, if ever changes his mind. Unless, it impacts his investment portfolio. Then he can have a change of heart. Ask program officers from his foundation. He’s not a good person. He’s got great marketing and people and organizations desperately in need of his money. Listen to scientists. Not BG.

mcbrarian2

&gt;Of all the holdings in the Gates Trust, Microsoft is by far the largest. This shouldn't be a surprise, given that Gates set up the foundation with his own holdings. The Trust owns roughly 35 million shares of Microsoft stock valued at $14.7 billion.

----

&gt;Microsoft's electricity demand for AI data centers will surge over 600% by 2030, which is enough to power the entire New England region, or 12% of all homes in the U.S

----

&gt;"Embrace, extend, and extinguish" (EEE),[1] also known as "embrace, extend, and exterminate",[2] is a phrase that the U.S. Department of Justice found[3] was used internally by Microsoft[4] to describe its strategy for entering product categories involving widely used open standards, extending those standards with proprietary capabilities, and using the differences to strongly disadvantage its competitors.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish

Fuck you Bill

Infamous_Employer_85

Forgive me if I don't trust him at all. Tax the Rich.

Temporary-Job-9049

Bill doesn’t realize that the word humanity has multiple meanings - and he’s using it incorrectly

Complex_Badger9240

Does Bill Gates think climate change isn't going to cause famines and deaths?

jawstrock

I thought he was too busy sucking trumps little mushroom too worry about climate change

Glidepath22

It’s the Trump effect. He has demoralized world action against our greatest threat , runaway climate chaos . Gates is his latest affected party. Talking absolute nonsense on how climate change is not so important an issue.

Acrobatic-Bed2708

A lot of truth in the article.  With failure of every ten year doom and gloom prediction,it is time to work toward better long term policies to get the improvements most want.

sparky-1982

Spider_pig448

Ah yes, the guy who wanted to force the shot on everyone to lower the population.

CapitalInflation5682

“This won’t literally end the human race” is not a particularly strong statement against climate change.

puffic

I've been reading primary literature on the intersection of anthropogenic climate change and crop yields for nearly 20 years.

Climate change won't end humanity, we're generalists like rats and cockroaches. But it *can* end technological civilization. There won't be chip fabs, AI or Microsoft when we're reduced to a few million hunter gatherers in the Arctic.

Sanpaku

This from the guy who has several luxury underground bunkers ready to go.

townandthecity

No billionaire is good for the society - some are downright bad like Musk while some like Bill Gates maintain good optics while harming the world.

Sufficient-History71

"Some of you may die, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make."

Northern_Explorer_

Why are we listening to what a retired software developer says on climate?

Has he gone back to school and changed professions?

No?

Then why are we listening to a man with no standing, education, or training in climate science who is stating a new position that is at odds with the consensus of an overwhelming body of experts?

locutusof

Gates is signaling his pivot from mitigation to adaptation. In other words, cutting emissions to prevent climate catastrophe is a lost cause and we should prioritize our efforts and money on easing people's suffering on the way out.

magnetar_industries

&gt;“Although climate change will have serious consequences — particularly for people in the poorest countries — it will not lead to humanity’s demise,” the billionaire philanthropist said in a memo published on Monday night. “People will be able to live and thrive in most places on Earth for the foreseeable future,” he wrote. “Emissions projections have gone down, and with the right policies and investments, innovation will allow us to drive emissions down much further.”

This doesn't sound like climate denial, it sounds like optimism. Excessive optimism, maybe, but he's not saying we don't need to do anything.

Interesting_Play_578

I hate that Joe Rando Billionaire can have their unqualified opinions amplified in this way.  Who cares what he thinks about anything?

Traditional_Hour5529

Head_Improvement3573

No but it will cause our society to collapse and technological progression will stop and disappear.

PartyClock

Says the man who, in 1994 said, “I don’t see any commercial potentials in the internet for the next ten years”.

crosstherubicon

Just say climate change will lead to AGI failing before it can be accomplished. Boom. Trillions invested in climate change overnight lol

Krilesh

"It won't kill off the billionaire class."

pattydickens

I mean yeah we'll survive anything... doesn't mean we'll enjoy it

Ethicaldreamer

"Some of you will die.." you know the rest. 

Chemical-Pie1926

He is no authority on this issue.  Period.

bambino2021

HavingNotAttained

If the oceans rise, the people relocation will be world changing. My view is it will make this statement seem stupid, but BG will be long gone by then so it won’t matter

weeverrm

Dude starts buying miles of farmland and suddenly he wants more freedoms on how to market it. We see you.

Heroright

Kissing the ring of the Orange King .... even if he has all the Epstein dirt on you.

Tovrin

What an odd article. Like on its face, I don't necessarily disagree with any of the conclusions (my biggest gripe is the defeatist attitude around having less money for global programs).

But to make the pivot right at this moment in time makes this whole thing stink. Playing into the climate change denialism line so that I see more posts on /r/conservative about this article than anywhere else on this site is just plain idiocy if you're ultimate goal is trying to save lives. Now that AI is stretching the energy grid to its limits does he say hes not as worried about energy usage going up. Praising our current trajectory while Trump is actively moving us in the opposite direction.

If he said this four years ago while we were debating what to prioritize in BBB then I would be more open to it. But now it just sounds like he's prioritizing his own selfish goals, bowing to pressure from Trump, or both.

hoopaholik91

Same Bill Gates who recently thanked Trump for his “incredible leadership.” Cool cool. No notes. /s

happymancry

In other words it'll catastrophically affect anyone who isn't a billionaire. 

Thanks Bill.

Spatularo

&gt;”Emissions projections have gone down, and with the right policies and investments, innovation will allow us to drive emissions down much further.”

What a stupid point in history to be optimistic about “the right policy” being implemented.

ElectricalShame1222

This feels like weasel talk. I bet he thinks something like disease or another disaster that will be our demise instead.

rva_monsta

And there it is.....the billionaires continuing to bend the knee to the American political right. 

FafnirSnap_9428

TheDungen

Yes Bill, it certainly will. But, at least you’ll die with a pile of unspent money long before then. Unless you plan on living another 50 years.

4onlyinfo

babyyodasthirdfinger

Oh pff no of course not nobody thought that. But it can get very miserable indeed.

So thankful I don't have children honestly.

_redmist

&gt;Bill Gates softens stance on climate change stating it ‘will not lead to humanity’s demise’

It sure as he'll is going to end our high-tech civilization.  For the sake of ecosystems and biodiversity, the sooner this happens the better.

TheArcticFox444

Yeah, like a bullet may not kill me but will hurt a lot and may paralyze me. 

I would rather not get shot thank you.

Strider-of-Storm

He meant “white” humanity’s demise.

RockyCreamNHotSauce

Is a dead or severely dying world as a result of our activity even worth trying to survive in, even if we technically somehow manage not to demise ourselves?

degrees_of_certainty

No Bill there will be no customers when the oceans acidification peaks and theres a massive fish die off

RolloffdeBunk

after i heard him say *”thank you president tRump for your leadership”* he’s lost any and all credibility. bill’s 15 minutes were up a long long time ago.

vikicrays

Yes as long as billionaires can afford yachts and fallout shelters humanity will live on. 

Iateyourpaintings

“Some of you may die, but that’s a price I’m willing to pay!”

SSPoncho

socialsciencenerd

Bill Gates softens stance on domestic violence stating it 'is not as bad as murder'

DangerousReply6393

He didn't soften stance he abandoned climate change fully 

Justaguyinohio123

He just wants to legitimize his AI booster position which is going to cause unbelievable carbon emissions.

hkric41six

Here, drink this. It won't kill you *per se*...

Icy_Geologist2959

Thanks Bill. How were your flights on Pedo1?

lessermeister

“Some of you may die, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make”

_SeaOfTroubles

Population will crash to a more sustainable level.  I would think around 500 million max.

Roamer56

mt8675309

Funny. Just read a post about whether [Bill Gates is going to save us](https://sustainabilitist.com/bill-gates/)...

miaumee

I mean that's just reality lol, it's going to kill millions and cause untold economic and humanitarian damages, but humanity will live 

Designer_Version1449

You're a computer nerd, idgaf what you have to say about the climate, especially as you abuse it.

AdaptableSulfurEater

SylvaedicEarth

BigJSunshine

Not his demise just most humans the rich are just trying to figure out how to ai and robots to survive and thrive when they wipe out 95 % of the population

crojin08

Oh good, the software copyright shithead has opinions.

LegitimateTrifle666

Thats not the point? It was never the point

y0nderYak

_byetony_

Bill Gates will be dead and gone before the worst impacts take place.

SentientFotoGeek

HippoRun23

The bluscreen guy who gets paid even as you reboot from DOS says 'chillax'.

earth-calling-karma

Yeah, see how well humanity survived disaster in Wells' The Time Machine.  An underground race of caste adhering cannibals, and an overworld race of low tech prey.  Sounds like something to shoot for. 

ShockedNChagrinned

Narrow_Roof_112

Plenty_Treat5330

Why on earth should we consider the opinion of a mass murderer?

chilloutpal

He's betting on us killing ourselves first by other means.

Burnbrook

If we get some fairly dramatic increases in sea level (like a lot of ice shelfs suddenly collapsing), civilisation won't have the capacity to respond. Because almost every major city will start to go underwater simultaneously and we would have to burn enormous amounts of fossil fuels to halt the rise (building dykes/dams etc) to stop it, adding to the very problem.  Add into that potential crop losses and super storms and we could quite quickly lose civilisation, which is a much more precarious thing than most people assume.

blobbleblab

He doesn't care about climate change. No billionaire does lol, the richer you get the more you want to hoard at any given expense

curiouslyt

I think he is seeing the alarmism being used against the movement.

BUT many major climatologist and scientist have been purposely softening the message or the level of seriousness they believe - for this same reason for years.

geek66

ImhereandIhearyou

02meepmeep

I think it was in the movie, An Inconvenient Truth, in which Al Gore stated that future generations will ask why we didn't do anything about it when we had the chance?

That's almost 20 years ago, when taking action back then would have been so much easier than now.

If politics is any indication, it's because doing the right thing is too hard and we are not up to the challenge.

How times have changed since Kennedy said 'We plan to go to the moon...not because it's easy but because it's hard'

Signal_Tomorrow_2138

This is a mistake, Bill. One of the better ways to reduce poverty and disease is to stop cooking poor places to unlivability. Another is to stop expanding the range of tropical diseases. Yet another is to prevent global heating's coming decimation of crops. And so on.

Splenda

spiritualpudge

richardsaganIII

sPLIFFtOOTH

We can survive anything but we will absolutely obliterate each other over it.

Disastrous_One_7357

Snow Piercer wasn't supposed to be an aspirational goal.

PoorClassWarRoom

Trump declared victory over climate change skepticism after Bill Gates suggested balancing climate concerns with poverty alleviation, stirring controversy.

Trump and Bill Gates on Climate Change Debate

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