Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates provides insight into the causes of the Texas energy crisis on Fox News Sunday.
Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates warned there will be dire consequences if the world’s net carbon emissions don’t reach zero by the year 2050.
In his new book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, Gates says it is imperative that the world go from its current 51 billion tons of emissions to zero within the next 30 years to avoid disaster.
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“The migration we saw from Syria because of their civil war, which was somewhat weather dependent, we will have 10 times the migration because the equatorial regions will become unlivable,” Gates told Chris Wallace, host of Fox News Sunday. , warning of what will happen if the goal is not achieved. “We won’t be able to farm or go out in the summer. Wildfires, even agricultural productivity in the south of the US – the droughts – will drastically reduce productivity in the area.”
Gates went on to say that the loss of life would exceed even the worst part of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The overall instability will be five times more deaths at the height of the pandemic and increase every year,” he said.
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While 2050 is Gates’ cut-off point, he said this is really just a matter of ‘degree’.
“If we wait another 10 years, it’s not as bad as if we wait 20 or 30, because the temperature just keeps on rising,” he said. Gates said he looks to 2050 because it “just happens to be the earliest realistic date the world will change all of these kinds of emissions.”
Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Beijing, China, on Thursday, November 21, 2019. Photographer: Takaaki Iwabu / Bloomberg via Getty Images (Takaaki Iwabu / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Gates defended himself against criticism from the left and right. Those on the left argue that he is not going far enough and that he should back the Green New Deal, with efforts to reduce net emissions to zero by 2030.
“It’s completely unrealistic,” Gates said of the 2030 target, saying it will take at least 30 years to reach it.
Gates has also passed out talking about the need to cut emissions, while having a huge carbon footprint of his own living in a large house and flying a private jet. He said his other actions make up for this.
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“I offset my carbon footprint by purchasing clean jet fuel and by funding carbon capture and low-cost housing projects to use electricity instead of natural gas,” said Gates. He noted how expensive these efforts have been and said those costs need to be cut.
Gates, an experienced entrepreneur who has created tens of thousands of jobs and established the US as a technology leader around the world, said that while a shift to green energy will be needed, it will result in significant job growth for engineers.
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“The technical skills, the things that those workers do, are going to be important. In fact, we’re going to almost triple the size of the power grid and build all that transmission,” Gates said. “And so it’s not going to be a job shortage in general, it’s just a balance to make sure every community fits into the plan.”
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Gates also opposed a claim by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who said the misery facing the state’s power grid during their winter storm is the result of green power outages, especially wind.
“That’s not true at all,” Gates said, saying the power shortage was due to power systems failing to defend themselves. He said that while wind turbines are part of this, it is possible to weather them, as shown by their use in North Dakota and Alaska.