Bill Gates, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need

Excerpt

When one of the richest men in the world writes a book, people usually take notice. When it is Bill Gates a leader of the tech revolution and it is about climate change, then it becomes a phenomenon. So why has Bill Gates become passionate about climate change and now sees it as the greatest threat to humanity? It all starts with his work with his wife Melinda at the Gates Foundation which was originally focused on global health, development and US education. Two important facts emerged from the funded work of the Gates Foundation. First was that global health and development were being held back by a lack of access to affordable energy: 860 million people still have no access to electricity—which raises the question how to produce this electricity. Second was that all the improvements in global health could be wiped out by climate change—which will increase both food and water insecurity for billions of people. So, Bill Gates went on a journey of discovery and like all super-nerds wanted to find the most efficient technological solutions to the climate crisis. …