Bill Gates Shares a Controversial Take on Climate Change

When you think of Bill Gates, you likely think of Microsoft. That's because the tech genius helped co-found the company, which now runs everything from home computers to your favorite gaming system. However, after officially retiring from his day-to-day work at Microsoft in 2008, Gates turned his attention to the work being done by the Gates Foundation.

The company, originally founded by Gates and his now ex-wife Melinda, uses its resources to help fund innovations to improve the world.

Some of the things the foundation focuses on include healthcare, poverty, education, and climate. As such, Bill Gates has had a lot to say about climate change over the years, sometimes directly to world leaders while attending and speaking at events about global climate concerns.

Of course, things are frequently changing when it comes to the world's climate, which means that Gates has had to adapt his views from time to time. Keep reading to learn more.

Gates released a memo on Oct. 28, 2025, explaining how he believed that world leaders needed to make a "strategic pivot" in the handling of the climate crisis. Published on the GatesNotes blog, he wrote about some of the biggest problems facing the planet, suggesting a break from current plans.

Instead of focusing on preventing the global temperature from increasing, Gates wrote that we should reallocate resources to help end the suffering of those living in certain parts of the world instead.

He wrote that, while climate change does hurt the poorest communities the most, it's hardly the only (or largest) issue they are facing. Gates cited problems like disease and poverty in his explanation, saying that these issues may be easier to solve than lowering emissions standards.

The message comes ahead of the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit meeting that begins on Nov. 10, 2025. It sound like Gates hopes to influence the summit participants with his strongly worded memo, which asks whether the money being spent on climate change is being spent on the right things.

If the world leaders agree with him that it's not, he would like to see the money spent in a way that will help address the things causing the most significant amount of human suffering instead.

While Gates did suggest a pivot ahead of the 2025 Climate Summit, he hasn't changed his stance on getting the world to zero emissions, which means that the amount of greenhouse gases we can remove from the environment will make up for the amount being introduced to the environment.

To get to that holy grail of climate homeostasis, Gates says that we'll need to rely on innovations throughout several different sectors.

That includes coming up with what he calls "climate-smart" innovations, especially when it comes to areas where climate change and severe weather are taking the biggest tolls.

Those innovations will be especially important to make in areas that are destroyed by climate disasters, so that they can be rebuilt to withstand whatever comes next, possibly preventing further human suffering in the process... something that has always been a top priority for Gates.