Gates warns that unfixed climate change can be disastrous for our grandchildren

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In a letter published overnight on his personal blog, Gates Notes, Microsoft founder Bill Gates writes about the dire consequences our failure to fix climate change will have for future generations – including his soon-to-be-born grandchild.

“I started looking at the world through a new lens recently — when my older daughter gave me the incredible news that I’ll become a grandfather next year,” wrote Gates. His daughter Jennifer, and her husband Nayel Nassar, are expecting their first baby next year.

“Simply typing that phrase, ‘I’ll become a grandfather next year,’ makes me emotional,” Gates wrote. “And the thought gives a new dimension to my work. When I think about the world my grandchild will be born into, I’m more inspired than ever to help everyone’s children and grandchildren have a chance to survive and thrive.”

Gates writes on to discuss the efforts of the Gates Foundation, which he founded, to improve the lives of children living in poverty around the world, including initiatives to enhance education, prevent pandemics, and combat polio and AIDS. He also mentions his efforts to address climate change, both through the Gates Foundation and his investment firm, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which supports start-up companies working on climate-related solutions.

“I can sum up the solution to climate change in two sentences: We need to eliminate global emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050,” writes Gates. “Extreme weather is already causing more suffering, and if we don’t get to net-zero emissions, our grandchildren will grow up in a world that is dramatically worse off.”

He stresses that the consequences are significant and the task is a formidable, yet essential one.

“Getting to zero will be the hardest thing humans have ever done,” he wrote. “We need to revolutionize the entire physical economy — how we make things, move around, produce electricity, grow food, and stay warm and cool — in less than three decades.”