How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

Bill Gates shares what he's learned in more than a decade of studying climate change and investing in innovations to address the problems, and sets out a vision for how the world can build the tools it needs to get to zero greenhouse gas emissions.

Bill Gates explains why he cares so deeply about the climate crisis and what makes him optimistic that the world can prevent the worst impacts of it. Gates says,"We can work on a local, national and global level to build the technologies, businesses and industries to avoid the worst impacts of climate change."

His interest in climate change is a natural outgrowth of efforts by his foundation to reduce poverty and disease. Climate change, according to Gates, will have the biggest impact on the people who have done the least to cause it. As a technologist, he has seen first-hand how innovation can change the world. By investing in research, inventing new technologies, and deploying them quickly at large scale, Gates believes climate change can be addressed in meaningful ways. He says, "To prevent the worst effects, we have to get to net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases. This problem is urgent, and the debate in complex, but I believe we can come together to invent new carbon-zero technologies, deploy the ones we have, and ultimately avoid a climate catastrophe."