The ‘Axios on HBO’ Gates interview was shown just two days after the Trump administration released a government report warning that damage from global warming could slash as much as 10 per cent in value off the nation’s economy by the end of the century. The administration was criticised for attempting to quietly slip the report out on the Friday afternoon of Thanksgiving weekend, hoping that most people would be too busy to notice. The Trump administration previously caused worldwide concern by pulling the US out of the Paris climate agreement.

“It’s very American to invent things to help the entire world. We’re always on the front of new science and new product development,” Gates said to HBO’s Axios journalists. “So it would be tragic if this was the first time the US didn’t play that role.

“A lot of people think, ‘OK, renewable energy, wind and solar, has gotten a lot cheaper, isn’t that it?’ Well, electricity is only a quarter of the problem. In fact, we’ve got to solve the entire 100 per cent. You know, unless somebody has the pie in their mind that, OK, electricity’s 25 per cent, agriculture’s 24 per cent, transport’s 14 per cent, unless they start with that, we’re not really talking about the same problem.”

In the interview, Gates pointed out that the emissions problem goes beyond power generation and that manufacturing, buildings and food production all contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. “We’re very far away from getting all these sources down to zero, which is what we have to do to solve this problem,” he said.

Gates also offered some surprising criticism of green-energy proponents, arguing that those who focus solely on eco energy solutions as the key to unlocking the climate change issue are potentially as damaging to real progress as those who help to prop up fossil fuel industries, as it prevents a wider understanding of the emissions problem as a whole and obscures the bigger climate change picture.

“A lot of people think renewable energy,” he said. “When electricity is only a quarter of the problem. In fact, we’ve got to solve the entire 100 per cent.”

Throughout the interview, Gates referred to a pie chart that he and his team have devised to illustrate “the entire 100 per cent”, detailing the causes of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions:

•     Electricity: 25 per cent
•     Transportation: 14 per cent
•     Manufacturing: 21 per cent
•     Buildings: 6 per cent
•     Agriculture: 24 per cent
•     Other sources: 10 per cent

Gates’ key message is that people worldwide have to realise that addressing climate change means fundamentally changing the way they live, including rethinking the global economy.

“For example, if synthetic meat works, that actually is a pretty big deal. But that’s at an early stage,” he said. “If electric cars become mainstream products, which they are not today, that’s also a little piece of the problem. But you need to make steel in new ways, you need to make fertiliser in new ways.”

Gates – worth an estimated $100 billion – has used his great personal wealth in recent years to drive forward a raft of climate change initiatives. He currently leads a coalition of billionaires – including Jeff Bezos and George Soros – who are investing in clean energy technologies. He also supports Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a $1bn private fund to help entrepreneurs launch clean energy companies. Meanwhile, the philanthropic organisation he founded, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is focusing on the adaptation to climate change, as well as a grand ambition to eradicate all diseases.

Gates acknowledged the difficulties in getting people to pay attention to climate change, saying: “On climate change, it’s hard because we’ll get interested and then let’s say the US economy isn’t as strong. You know, people’s willingness to talk about something that’s 40 years away is a lot higher when a lot of things are going well.”

For a man investing billions of his own money in the pursuit of a healthier planet for all mankind, there was some comforting news for Gates on Monday: for a brief period, Microsoft overtook Apple to become the world’s most valuable company.

It was the first time in eight years that Microsoft’s valuation has exceeded that of Apple, when it briefly reached a high of $812.93bn, with Apple just behind at $812.60bn. However, by the end of the day, the positions had reversed again, putting Apple back at the top.

The ‘Axios on HBO’ Gates interview was shown just two days after the Trump administration released a government report warning that damage from global warming could slash as much as 10 per cent in value off the nation’s economy by the end of the century. The administration was criticised for attempting to quietly slip the report out on the Friday afternoon of Thanksgiving weekend, hoping that most people would be too busy to notice. The Trump administration previously caused worldwide concern by pulling the US out of the Paris climate agreement.

“It’s very American to invent things to help the entire world. We’re always on the front of new science and new product development,” Gates said to HBO’s Axios journalists. “So it would be tragic if this was the first time the US didn’t play that role.

“A lot of people think, ‘OK, renewable energy, wind and solar, has gotten a lot cheaper, isn’t that it?’ Well, electricity is only a quarter of the problem. In fact, we’ve got to solve the entire 100 per cent. You know, unless somebody has the pie in their mind that, OK, electricity’s 25 per cent, agriculture’s 24 per cent, transport’s 14 per cent, unless they start with that, we’re not really talking about the same problem.”

In the interview, Gates pointed out that the emissions problem goes beyond power generation and that manufacturing, buildings and food production all contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. “We’re very far away from getting all these sources down to zero, which is what we have to do to solve this problem,” he said.

Gates also offered some surprising criticism of green-energy proponents, arguing that those who focus solely on eco energy solutions as the key to unlocking the climate change issue are potentially as damaging to real progress as those who help to prop up fossil fuel industries, as it prevents a wider understanding of the emissions problem as a whole and obscures the bigger climate change picture.

“A lot of people think renewable energy,” he said. “When electricity is only a quarter of the problem. In fact, we’ve got to solve the entire 100 per cent.”

Throughout the interview, Gates referred to a pie chart that he and his team have devised to illustrate “the entire 100 per cent”, detailing the causes of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions:

•     Electricity: 25 per cent
•     Transportation: 14 per cent
•     Manufacturing: 21 per cent
•     Buildings: 6 per cent
•     Agriculture: 24 per cent
•     Other sources: 10 per cent

Gates’ key message is that people worldwide have to realise that addressing climate change means fundamentally changing the way they live, including rethinking the global economy.

“For example, if synthetic meat works, that actually is a pretty big deal. But that’s at an early stage,” he said. “If electric cars become mainstream products, which they are not today, that’s also a little piece of the problem. But you need to make steel in new ways, you need to make fertiliser in new ways.”

Gates – worth an estimated $100 billion – has used his great personal wealth in recent years to drive forward a raft of climate change initiatives. He currently leads a coalition of billionaires – including Jeff Bezos and George Soros – who are investing in clean energy technologies. He also supports Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a $1bn private fund to help entrepreneurs launch clean energy companies. Meanwhile, the philanthropic organisation he founded, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is focusing on the adaptation to climate change, as well as a grand ambition to eradicate all diseases.

Gates acknowledged the difficulties in getting people to pay attention to climate change, saying: “On climate change, it’s hard because we’ll get interested and then let’s say the US economy isn’t as strong. You know, people’s willingness to talk about something that’s 40 years away is a lot higher when a lot of things are going well.”

For a man investing billions of his own money in the pursuit of a healthier planet for all mankind, there was some comforting news for Gates on Monday: for a brief period, Microsoft overtook Apple to become the world’s most valuable company.

It was the first time in eight years that Microsoft’s valuation has exceeded that of Apple, when it briefly reached a high of $812.93bn, with Apple just behind at $812.60bn. However, by the end of the day, the positions had reversed again, putting Apple back at the top.