Gates Sounds Alarm: Chances of Achieving 2C Warming Target Rapidly Diminishing
Despite geopolitical tensions, Bill Gates commended the COP28 summit for its efforts in addressing climate change, although he expressed doubt that the world would achieve the Paris Agreement’s objective of limiting temperature rise to below 2C.
“Climate development is moving forward even as we fall short of our highest hopes,” he said on Bloomberg TV, citing the largest-ever attendance at the annual U.N. summit and announcements of food and health initiatives.
Holding warming to 2C, the weaker target agreed at COP21 in Paris, “is not likely”, he said. “Fortunately, if you stay below 3C, a lot of the adverse effects that people have heard about don’t happen.”
A planet that warms 3 degrees above pre-industrial levels could regularly expose up to 50 million people to temperatures beyond human survival, according to a 2018 study published in the Lancet Planetary Health journal. New York City may experience a three-times-in-a-century flood each year, while up to 52 times more people face dangerous heat in African cities. The amount of land destroyed by wildfires worldwide would double and the Amazon rainforest would turn into grassland.
Gates cited nuclear fusion and fission and green steel as one solution he is optimistic about. The co-founder of Microsoft Corp., which invests in dozens of clean-tech companies through its Breakthrough Energy Ventures project, said the meetings on the sidelines of COP28 are crucial for startups to gain exposure to big players in sectors that need carbon emissions, such as cement.
The summit, hosted by the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, has sparked debate about the fossil fuel industry. Sultan Al Jaber, the oil executive overseeing the talks, insists they must be part of the conversation. Those who want to move faster away from dirty energy say the industry is doing far too little to transition to alternatives.
“We have to defeat fossil fuels,” Gates said. “To do it properly, they shouldn’t get subsidies, and in fact should introduce a carbon tax over time.”
