The innovations we need to avoid a climate disaster: A TED Talk by Bill Gates

Ever since the mid-twentieth century, humans have been at risk of a major climate disaster caused by global warming. Several philanthropists, including Jeff Bezos and Jeremy Grantham, have donated millions of dollars to the prevention of this calamity. One such benefactor is Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, who has not only funded the fight against climate change, but has also written the book “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster”. In this 47 minute podcast, Bill Gates explains the actions we must take to preempt a climatic catastrophe.

Gates, who has invested two billion dollars in combating climate change so far and plans to continue funding it, speaks about the “green premium”. This term refers to the additional cost of choosing a product with no emissions of greenhouse gases, such as an electric car, over a product that is not environmentally friendly, like a car powered by fuel. As the green premium drops, it becomes easier for ordinary people like us to switch to green products. Thus, Gates suggests that our goal should be to bring the green premium down to zero. To accomplish this, we need:

• people designing eco-friendly technology - Innovation
• investors funding these designs - Supply
• and customers choosing to buy these items - Demand 

Some of Bill Gates’ other priorities when stopping climate change are a) creating green hydrogen (a form of hydrogen that comes from renewable resources and can provide clean power for manufacturing, transportation and more), b) practising direct carbon capture (filtering the air, removing carbon dioxide, and sequestering it into a pressurised form for millions of years) and c) developing nuclear energy. He believes that he is doing his part to avoid a climate disaster by taking the above measures.

Gates tells us that we must begin fighting global warming now, as there is so much to work on, and so little time, before a climate disaster occurs. If we manage to prevent such a disaster, it will be one of humankind’s greatest accomplishments - far greater than even the prevention of World Wars.