Bill Gates 'blows up' the climate debate with his new address

On the eve of the COP30 climate summit in Brazil, billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates published a large address in which he proposed to "rethink" the approach to combating climate change. This document, in fact, became an "information grenade" that exploded the discussion - it was welcomed by climate sceptics and sharply criticised by scientists, reports The Conversation.

In his memo, Gates called for a "strategic pivot" in climate policy. He stressed that global warming remains a serious threat, especially to the poorest countries, but is not "the end of civilisation". The billionaire called for shifting the focus from scary scenarios to practical measures: the development of technology, health care and the global economy, which, in his opinion, will be the best defence of mankind against climate risks.

Gates also noted that technological innovations - electric cars, renewable energy and batteries - are already reducing the carbon burden on the economy. It is scientific progress and economic growth, he said, that will help humanity mitigate the effects of warming in the long term.

However, it was this very formulation - that "climate change will not destroy the world" - that prompted the strong reaction. Major conservative social media accounts and even US President Donald Trump declared as if Gates had "admitted he was wrong" and that "the war on the climate hoax has been won". In fact, there is nothing of the sort in the text: on the contrary, Gates reiterated his support for decarbonisation and the goal of achieving zero emissions.

Nevertheless, sceptics took his words as justification for their position. The media picked up the wave, with headlines like "Bill Gates Says Climate Change Isn't So Bad After All" adding to the confusion.

Scientists, on the other hand, saw in the address a dangerous bias toward "techno-optimism." Renowned climate scientist Michael Mann noted that belief in technological "panaceas" like nuclear microreactors or geoengineering distracts attention from the real, already available solutions - reducing emissions and switching to clean energy.

Other researchers, including Daniel Swain, have expressed concern that Gates is "softening" the picture of what is happening by not emphasising that 2.5-3 °C warming already poses massive risks to ecosystems and society.

Thus, Gates' memo did not change the scientific facts, but it clearly showed how much the perception of climate issues depends on wording and context. Some saw his words as a call for pragmatism, while others saw them as a signal that the climate agenda was weakening.