Bill Gates calls for ‘strategic pivot’ in climate change fight away from curbing emissions

Bill Gates says climate change is a serious global challenge but not an existential one for civilization, and argues that innovation — not panic — will drive the most progress. In a new memo, he calls for a “strategic pivot” in climate strategy: instead of putting nearly all resources into cutting emissions, more should go toward reducing poverty and disease, especially in the poorest countries that will be hit hardest by warming.

Gates says a doomsday mindset has led climate policy to prioritise incremental temperature targets over actions that would immediately reduce suffering. If forced to choose, he said he would accept a projected 0.1°C increase in warming to eradicate malaria, because “people don’t understand the suffering that exists today.”

The Microsoft co-founder now focuses most of his work through the Gates Foundation, which funds health, development, and education efforts worldwide, and through Breakthrough Energy, which backs clean-energy innovation. He released his 17-page memo ahead of the U.N. climate conference in Brazil, asking policymakers to examine whether limited climate funds are being spent where they do the most good.

Gates acknowledges his position will divide opinion: those who downplay climate change will reject his premise, while those who treat it as apocalyptic will reject his reprioritization. He frames his stance as pragmatic — maximizing impact for vulnerable populations rather than treating climate change as the singular overriding cause.

Some climate researchers agree that human well-being should remain the primary aim, but others criticized the memo as vague or misleading, arguing that poverty reduction and emissions cuts can proceed together. Scientists also stress that every fraction of a degree of warming matters because even small increases drive extreme weather, biodiversity loss, and irreversible tipping points.

Gates does not deny that point. His memo states plainly that “every tenth of a degree matters,” but contends that a stable climate is best secured by strategies that also lift people out of the conditions that make them most vulnerable.