Did Bill Gates really say we don't need to address climate change?

Nicole Mortillaro · CBC News

· Posted: Nov 06, 2025 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: November 6

Over the past week, you whitethorn person travel crossed headlines similar this: “Bill Gates bends the genu connected clime change,” oregon “The week Bill Gates backtracked connected clime alteration — and sent eco fanatics into meltdown,” oregon adjacent “Bill Gates gives up connected clime change.”

But did the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist truly accidental clime alteration isn’t important?

The full treatment started owed to a poorly timed memo — issued by Gates connected the precise time that Jamaica was devastated by a almighty Category 5 hurricane. 

It begins with this: “There’s a doomsday presumption of clime alteration that goes similar this:

“In a fewer decades, cataclysmic clime alteration volition decimate civilization. The grounds is each astir america — conscionable look astatine each the vigor waves and storms caused by rising planetary temperatures. Nothing matters much than limiting the emergence successful temperature.

“Fortunately for each of us, this presumption is wrong. Although clime alteration volition person superior consequences — peculiarly for radical successful the poorest countries — it volition not pb to humanity’s demise. People volition beryllium capable to unrecorded and thrive successful astir places connected Earth for the foreseeable future.”

An aerial presumption of Black River, Jamaica, connected Oct. 30, successful the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa. (Matias Delacroix/The Associated Press)

The memo, posted connected his GatesNotes tract up of the upcoming COP30 clime conference, goes connected to suggest that the clime assemblage is excessively focused connected temperatures and emissions and is taking resources distant from ways to amended quality suffering similar poorness and hunger.

It has sent clime scientists reeling, portion clime alteration skeptics claimed victory. 

U.S. President Donald Trump adjacent posted connected his Truth Social platform: “I (WE!) conscionable won the War connected the Climate Change Hoax. Bill Gates has yet admitted that helium was wholly WRONG connected the issue. It took courageousness to bash so, and for that we are each grateful.”

On Monday, Gates told Axios that Trump’s instrumentality was a “giant misreading of the memo.”

And that’s a just effect since helium further states successful his memo: “To beryllium clear: Climate alteration is simply a precise important problem. It needs to beryllium solved … Every tenth of a grade of heating that we forestall is hugely beneficial due to the fact that a unchangeable clime makes it easier to amended people’s lives.”

WATCH | Hurricane Melissa tears done Jamaica:

On a sheet hosted by Covering Climate Now held connected Tuesday astir Gates’s memo, Katharine Hayhoe, a clime idiosyncratic and prof astatine Texas Tech University, said that Gates saying it won't beryllium the extremity of humanity isn’t wrong. 

“I person not seen a azygous technological insubstantial that ever posited that the quality contention would go extinct immoderate clip successful this period oregon adjacent a mates of centuries to travel owed to clime change.”

Zeke Hausfather, a probe idiosyncratic astatine Berkeley Earth agrees.

“I deliberation he's saying that it's not, by itself, an existential threat. And I don't deliberation helium is needfully incorrect there, but I besides deliberation an existential menace is an absurdly precocious barroom to clasp immoderate occupation to,” helium told CBC News.

Climate scientists haven't been saying that governments and organizations shouldn't enactment to assistance tackle poorness and malnutrition, they accidental clime alteration is portion of that treatment connected bettering lives for the astir vulnerable.

“All excessively galore radical including Bill Gates … spot clime alteration arsenic 1 much bucket astatine the extremity of a agelong enactment of buckets of things we request to fix,” Hayhoe said. 

“So there's the poorness bucket, the hunger bucket, the illness bucket … the acquisition bucket and each of these different buckets. Then you've got clime change. And his constituent is, and helium virtually is saying this, we don't person capable clip and wealth to get each the mode down the buckets to the clime alteration bucket.”

Somali children screen arsenic a particulate tempest moves crossed the Dadaab exile campy successful bluish Kenya, connected July 13, 2023. Experts accidental those surviving successful poorness are deed hardest by the effects of clime change. (Brian Inganga/The Associated Press)

While Hayhoe acknowledges that Gates said clime alteration should beryllium worked on, she sees his framing arsenic problematic. Referring to her bucket analogy, she says clime alteration is the spread successful each those buckets; that you can’t abstracted clime alteration from thing other that would assistance amended beingness for those surviving successful poverty, particularly since they are the ones who are astir affected by clime change.

'Nuanced assessment'

So, contempt claims otherwise, Gates isn't saying clime alteration isn't a threat, but helium is saying that possibly it should instrumentality a backmost spot to providing much-needed nutrient and backing for those surviving successful poverty. And that's what's upsetting truthful galore successful the clime sphere.

But Hausfather believes Gates's connection is much nuanced, peculiarly erstwhile the U.S., which provides billions of dollars successful assistance astir the world, has precocious chopped backing to its United States Agency for International Development. Other countries astir the world, which supply less, person besides scaled backmost contributions to the World Bank.

"I deliberation this memo, and peculiarly the mode it's been interpreted by a batch of people, is seen arsenic benignant of an implicit prioritization of different things implicit climate, alternatively than a much nuanced appraisal of, successful a satellite of much constricted resources wherever the U.S. and different countries are cutting backmost connected planetary aid, however bash we champion enactment radical and relieve suffering and beforehand quality flourishing? And truthful I deliberation that's an important nuanced debate."

Gates and African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina, speech astatine the COP28 UN Climate Summit, connected Dec. 1, 2023, successful Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Kamran Jebreili/The Associated Press)

Climate alteration is astir affecting those surviving successful poverty, experts say: much predominant droughts makes it intolerable to turn crops; flooding has a akin effect and tin summation illness outbreaks; stronger hurricanes destruct homes and infrastructure.

Without moving toward solutions focusing some connected mitigation and adaption, those surviving successful poorness volition proceed to beryllium the astir vulnerable, adjacent though they aren't liable for the monolithic greenhouse state emissions that are causing the contented successful the archetypal place.

"We tin chew gum and locomotion astatine the aforesaid clip ," Hausfather said.