Bill Gates versus climate change

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 15 February 2021

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Eliminating carbon emissions in the next 30 years would be "the most amazing thing humanity has ever done".

In an exclusive interview, Bill Gates tells Justin Rowlatt why he has set his sights on tackling global warming, and how the challenge compares to efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic - which he is also taking a leading role in, with the funding of vaccine rollouts. The Microsoft founder and world's most influential philanthropist is particularly focused on the parts of the economy that are the toughest to decarbonise - things like cement, steel and aviation.

His thinking is strongly influenced by the energy historian Vaclav Smil. Gates says he has read every one of the Czech-Canadian professor's 40-odd books on the subject. But in a rare interview, Professor Smil tells Justin that he has a decidedly more pessimistic view of how quick and painless the energy transition can be.

Producer: Laurence Knight

(Picture: Justin Rowlatt interviewing Bill Gates at the Natural History Museum)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The biggest innovation effort the world has ever known is needed if we're to avoid a climate disaster, according to Bill Gates.
0:09.6	We'll be discovering how he intends to make that happen here on Business Daily with me, Justin Rowlat.
0:15.6	The billionaire founder of Microsoft says government is the key.
0:19.5	Because right now, you don't see the pain you're causing
0:23.2	as you emit carbon dioxide. But is Bill too optimistic? We've also been talking to his energy
0:30.0	guru. We are talking about replacing billions of pounds. It's billions of tons. It's not millions.
0:37.3	Billions of dance, right?
0:38.9	Saving the world from climate change, that's Business Daily, here on the BBC World Service.
0:48.2	Good evening. The museum will close in 20 minutes as world ships. In fact, London's Natural History Museum is closed indefinitely to visitors due to the coronavirus lockdown.
1:02.5	So we thought its famous atrium would make a fantastic location for a video conference interview with the founder of Microsoft.
1:10.4	Bill Gates is also, of course, the world's
1:12.8	most influential philanthropist. But while the lofty Gothic ceiling provided a dramatic backdrop for
1:19.1	our TV cameras, the echoey acoustics were a little... Okay, so try and keep my voice down,
1:25.3	you know? It's quite hard. Bill Gates is not someone you normally associate. Okay, so try and keep my voice down, yeah? Yes, please, yeah.
1:28.6	It's quite hard.
1:32.6	Bill Gates is not someone you normally associate with natural history,
1:35.1	but in the last couple of years, he's turned his attention to the greatest threat facing life on Earth.
1:38.1	Not the pandemic, although the billionaire is also spending a chunk of his fortune
1:42.3	on vaccine research, I'm talking about global warming.
1:46.5	Gates has just published a book on the subject, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.
1:52.4	Bill, can you hear us? I can't. How are you? Very well indeed. Can you see the location we're in?
1:58.7	Yeah, I can't. That's the man for his museum.
	...

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