Bill Gates says that capitalism cannot save us from climate change

[GennGreymane]

http://i100.independent.co.uk/articl...e--b1xNpbL8O_x

The world’s richest man, Bill Gates, has said that the private sector is too selfish and inefficient to produce effective energy alternatives to fossil fuels.

While announcing his plan to spend $2 billion of his own wealth on green energy during an interview with The Atlantic, the Microsoft founder called on fellow billionaires to help make the US fossil-free by 2050 with similar philanthropy.

He said:

There’s no fortune to be made. Even if you have a new energy source that costs the same as today’s and emits no CO2, it will be uncertain compared with what’s tried-and-true and already operating at unbelievable scale and has gotten through all the regulatory problems.

Without a substantial carbon tax, there’s no incentive for innovators or plant buyers to switch.

Since World War II, US-government R&D has defined the state of the art in almost every area. The private sector is in general inept.

The climate problem has to be solved in the rich countries. China and the US and Europe have to solve CO2 emissions, and when they do, hopefully they’ll make it cheap enough for everyone else.

In recent years, China has surged ahead of the US and Europe in green investment, despite remaining the world’s most polluting country in terms of fossil fuels.

Between 2000 and 2012, China’s solar energy output rose from 3 to 21,000 megawatts, rising 67 per cent between 2013 and 2014. In 2014 the country’s CO2 emissions decreased 1 per cent.

Meanwhile, Germany’s greenhouse emissions are at the lowest point since 1990, and the UK has seen a decrease of 13.35 per cent in emissions over the last five years, according to official quarterly statistics from the Department of Energy & Climate Change.

[Rukh]

Honestly he'd get the best bang for his buck spending that 2 billion on PR for being conscious of climate change. Its something that has to change in the culture. People get all critical with awareness campaigns, but changing people's opinion on a subject is often the best use of the money. That's something that the oil industry already knows, they spend sooo much money on PR to keep the status quo. That's what he needs to topple if he wants to see progress.

[Super Friendly Kitty Cat]

Why is Bill Gates some sort of new-age prophet now? He was a gutless criminal capitalist while at Microsoft.

[zenkai]

He doesn't think someone wouldn't invent a better energy solution and be rich?

[Saucexorzski]

Why is Bill Gates some sort of new-age prophet now? He was a gutless criminal capitalist while at Microsoft.

He is not right wing and he is rich so the left love him.

[InDecisive]

Why is Bill Gates some sort of new-age prophet now? He was a gutless criminal capitalist while at Microsoft.

Professional work ethic I guess. When you're running a business you set aside personal views and get on with your job, which is to make as much money for the business as possible.

Once you've got billions and you've stepped back from active day to day profit maximisation it's a lot easier to pursue personal interests.

[Daelak]

http://i100.independent.co.uk/articl...e--b1xNpbL8O_x

He and many economists saying the same thing is exactly right. This is the fleeting moment the USA can show the world that we still are the leaders of innovation and technology. The full faith & credit of the USA, in conjunction with large developed countries, can steer the global economy away from fossil fuels by investing hundreds of trillions of dollars into new areas of research over the next 100 years. This is the time, the longer we wait, the more resources we will have to use.

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He doesn't think someone wouldn't invent a better energy solution and be rich?

Because the next energy solution will radically change global markets.

[zenkai]

He and many economists saying the same thing is exactly right. This is the fleeting moment the USA can show the world that we still are the leaders of innovation and technology. The full faith & credit of the USA, in conjunction with large developed countries, can steer the global economy away from fossil fuels by investing hundreds of trillions of dollars into new areas of research over the next 100 years. This is the time, the longer we wait, the more resources we will have to use.

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Because the next energy solution will radically change global markets.

They don't care, the rest of the world uses our technology to complain about us daily.

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Because the next energy solution will radically change global markets.

I don't think the guy getting rich would care, now I agree there will be energy companies who probably don't want to look at investing such as big oil, into cleaner energy that they can't control

[Deleted]

He is not right wing and he is rich so the left love him.

No people love him, because unlike the other rich, he's smartly invested his money after Microsoft, and made sure that he'll have enough and more money to invest in good causes, and to eventually donate it to charity when he passes. How many of you will give 99.9% of your total wealth to charity on death, and have your adult children be ok with it? Right, they will be fighting about money the moment you pass.

You could say he's very rich, yes he is, but he's a very simple person, seen his family house? There's millionaires with 10x bigger houses than him. I think if you are a smart person, and not a media puppet, you'd see that he's genuinely trying to fix things, in terms of diseases, he's fixed a lot more than the USA has done this past decade, because he knew what to invest in, he took time to figure out which projects would be successful and which ones wouldn't.

[Puupi]

I'm pretty sure he didn't spend 2 billion on green energy. He invested​ them. Which is capitalism 101.

[Daelak]

They don't care, the rest of the world uses our technology to complain about us daily.

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I don't think the guy getting rich would care, now I agree there will be energy companies who probably don't want to look at investing such as big oil, into cleaner energy that they can't control

Which is exactly what Bill Gates is saying.

The next revolution in energy may well crash the market for energy price due to its abundance.

[derpkitteh]

gates uses his money on things that only help people in the short term.

if he was smart, he'd invest into finding some type of new renewable energy, or wireless transmission of energy.

things that help everyone on the grand scheme is better than helping some village in the middle of nowhere that doesn't even really need outside intervention when they could easily go back to hunting and gathering like they did for thousands of years before rich white people started feeding them.

[Puupi]

PS. What does capitalism have to do with this anyway?

[Calfredd]

Why is Bill Gates some sort of new-age prophet now? He was a gutless criminal capitalist while at Microsoft.

Criminal? What did he do?

[zenkai]

No people love him, because unlike the other rich, he's smartly invested his money after Microsoft, and made sure that he'll have enough and more money to invest in good causes, and to eventually donate it to charity when he passes. How many of you will give 99.9% of your total wealth to charity on death, and have you adult children be ok with it? Right, they will be fighting about money the moment you pass.

You could say he's very rich, yes he is, but he's a very simple person, seen his family house? There's millionaires with 10x bigger houses than him. I think if you are a smart person, and not a media puppet, you'd see that he's genuinely trying to fix things, in terms of diseases, he's fixed a lot more than the USA has done this past decade, because he knew what to invest in, he took time to figure out which projects would be successful and which ones wouldn't.

it's pretty easy to be charitable when you have more money than you can ever spend, its the people who have nothing and still give that are the real heroes

[Annoying]

gates uses his money on things that only help people in the short term.

if he was smart, he'd invest into finding some type of new renewable energy, or wireless transmission of energy.

things that help everyone on the grand scheme is better than helping some village in the middle of nowhere that doesn't even really need outside intervention when they could easily go back to hunting and gathering like they did for thousands of years before rich white people started feeding them.

I don't really agree with the short term thing. He's spending millions combating malaria, and if we eliminated that, it'd certainly be long term.

[Deleted]

No economic system can "save" us from climate change.

But at least with Capitalism we don't have to die poor

[Kontinuum]

it's pretty easy to be charitable when you have more money than you can ever spend, its the people who have nothing and still give that are the real heroes

My charitable giving is not impressive. What's impressive is people who give to charities who have to sacrifice something to give it to him. In my family, we don't even hesitate to buy yet another airplane. But there are people who have to choose, do I go out to dinner? Or do I give this $20 to my church? That's a very different decision than I make. Those are the people that impress me.

[Daelak]

No economic system can "save" us from climate change.

But at least with Capitalism we don't have to die poor

Government-led investment into alternative energy and fuel will combat the effects of climate change.

[Endus]

it's pretty easy to be charitable when you have more money than you can ever spend, its the people who have nothing and still give that are the real heroes

You're saying this like it's a condemnation of Bill Gates, when Gates has said exactly this more than once;

http://imgur.com/gallery/YDuoHdr