Bill Gates discussed how America and other countries can advance their leadership on climate change this year and put the world on a path to zero emissions by 2050.<\/p>\n
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Article by<\/strong> Bill Gates | GatesNotes<\/a><\/p>\n During last year\u2019s campaign, President Joe Biden\u00a0argued<\/a>\u00a0that the \u201cUnited States must lead the world to take on the existential threat we face\u2014climate change.\u201d I agree. Although COVID-19 will rightfully continue to dominate the agenda, the President and Congress also have the opportunity to lead the world in avoiding a climate disaster.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve learned from my work at Microsoft and in philanthropy that the best way to encourage others to take action is to start by doing it yourself. President Biden has already taken an important first step by rejoining the Paris climate accord. Now the United States can build on that step by adopting a concrete plan that checks several boxes at once: eliminating emissions while adapting to the warming that is already happening, spurring innovative industries, creating jobs for the post-pandemic recovery, and ensuring that everyone benefits from the transition to a green economy. (This plan is a key part of my upcoming\u00a0book about climate change<\/a>. And I\u2019ll be writing about the last point\u2014the transition to a green economy\u2014here on the Gates Notes in the next few months.)<\/p>\n In the 15 years that I\u2019ve been learning about and investing in clean energy, I\u2019ve benefited from many discussions with scientists, policy experts, and elected leaders from across the political spectrum, in the United States and around the world. Drawing on those conversations, here are four ways that America and other countries can advance their leadership on climate change this year and put the world on a path to zero emissions by 2050.<\/p>\n We need breakthroughs in the way we generate and store\u00a0clean electricity<\/a>,\u00a0grow food<\/a>,\u00a0make things<\/a>,\u00a0move around<\/a>, and\u00a0heat and cool<\/a>\u00a0our buildings, so we can do all these things without adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. We have some of the tools we need, like solar and wind power, but far from all of them. And we won\u2019t develop new tools without a dramatic infusion of investment and focus from the federal government.<\/p>\n Just how dramatic? I estimate that federal spending on clean-energy research and development needs to go up fivefold\u2014an increase that would put it on equal footing with health research. And it would be a key first step in\u00a0creating more than 370,000 jobs<\/a>\u00a0as well.<\/p>\n But this is not simply about throwing more money at the problem. We also need to make sure the government is set up to avoid duplication and make the best use of these resources. That\u2019s why we should create the\u00a0National Institutes of Energy Innovation<\/a>.<\/p>\n This NIEI should be modeled on the phenomenally successful National Institutes for Health. For example, just like NIH, it would consist of various institutes focused on specific areas. An Institute of Transportation Decarbonization would be responsible for work on low-carbon fuels. Other institutes would have similar responsibilities and authority for research on energy storage, renewables, and so on.<\/p>\n If I could pick just one thing that the U.S. could do to lead the world in technological innovations for clean energy, this would be it.<\/p>\n I learned the hard way at Microsoft that simply making a great product doesn\u2019t guarantee that you will beat the competition. Sometimes there\u2019s just not enough demand for what you\u2019re selling.<\/p>\n The lesson for climate change is that we can\u2019t avoid a climate disaster through technological innovation alone. We also need policy innovations to make sure that scientists\u2019 breakthroughs make it from the lab to the market, and that they\u2019re affordable enough for developing countries as well as rich ones.<\/p>\n That means doing things like setting standards for how much electricity or fuel must come from zero-carbon options. Governments can also use their procurement power to create demand for cleaner options\u2014for example, buying only electric buses, as the city of Shenzhen, China has done. They can build the infrastructure that allows for green options: charging stations for electric vehicles, or new transmission lines to deliver clean energy from the places where it\u2019s generated to the places where it\u2019s consumed.<\/p>\n Finally, governments can level the playing field so it\u2019s easier for clean alternatives to compete on price.<\/p>\n The problem is that right now, products that cause emissions aren\u2019t priced to reflect the environmental damage they cause. They should be. Carbon taxes and cap-and-trade programs are two ways to solve this problem.<\/p>\n The idea isn\u2019t to punish people for their greenhouse gases. It\u2019s to create incentives for inventors to create competitive carbon-free alternatives and for consumers to buy them.<\/p>\n Climate change is the definition of a global issue. Temperatures won\u2019t stop going up in Texas unless emissions stop going up in India (and temperatures in India won\u2019t stop going up until emissions stop going up in Texas).<\/p>\n That is why governments need to work together to develop common goals, share knowledge, and make sure that clean technologies developed in one country will spread quickly to others. This cooperation can happen on a bilateral basis\u2014between two countries talking directly to each other\u2014as well as among many governments through venues like the United Nations and\u00a0Mission Innovation<\/a>.<\/p>\n To see why this is so important, look at the global growth of the nuclear energy industry. Today, most of the world\u2019s nuclear reactors are based on American technology. Why? Because after World War II, the United States led an international effort to develop and deploy this breakthrough energy source. It collaborated on R&D with a range of international partners, making it possible for American firms to license technology to them, export equipment to them, and sell them nuclear fuel. And today, policymakers across the federal government\u2014from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to the State Department\u2014work together to advance the global deployment of nuclear energy.<\/p>\n We need a similar approach to clean-energy breakthroughs.<\/p>\n We\u2019re already seeing the impact of climate change. So even as we develop and deploy ways to prevent future warming, we also need to adapt to the effects that higher temperatures are having around the world.<\/p>\n Countries will need to invest in climate-proofing infrastructure to cope with more severe weather and rising sea levels. This includes upgrading electrical grids, expanding storm water drainage systems, and building or expanding seawalls. And two of the best ways for wealthy countries to help low- and middle-income ones is to invest in primary health care and make sure smallholder farmers can grow enough food to feed everyone.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Global Commission on Adaptation<\/a>, which I co-chair along with Ban Ki-Moon and Kristalina Georgieva, has published a number of evidence-based recommendations. I encourage you to check out the commission\u2019s work.<\/p>\n To be sure, governments aren\u2019t the only ones who need to act across all four areas. Businesses, philanthropists, and individuals can also play a pivotal role by advocating for these policies, investing in low-emissions solutions, paying the\u00a0Green Premiums<\/a>\u00a0when they can, and more. I\u2019ll be writing more about these areas in future posts, and they\u2019re covered in\u00a0How to Avoid a Climate Disaster<\/a><\/em>\u00a0as well.<\/p>\n I see promise in 2021. The next major U.N. Summit on climate change\u2014to be hosted by the United Kingdom in November\u2014is an opportunity for countries around the world, including the U.S., to showcase their leadership on this urgent problem. If they want to lead by doing, the four steps laid out here are a good place to start.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bill Gates discussed how America and other countries can advance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":28844,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,1337],"tags":[484,99,1385,744,4415,3630],"class_list":["post-28843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-management-leadership","category-primezone","tag-bill-gates","tag-ceo","tag-ceo-northam","tag-climate-change","tag-gatesnotes","tag-joe-biden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28843"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28846,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28843\/revisions\/28846"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1.\u00a0\u00a0Increase the supply of innovation.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0Increase the demand for innovation.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
3.\u00a0\u00a0Work globally.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
4.\u00a0\u00a0Prepare for a warming world.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n