Gates Calls Divestment A `False Solution’ to Global Warming

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has called the fossil fuel divestment campaign a “false solution” to climate change and says the best way to decarbonize the global economy is by developing revolutionary renewable energy technologies. “We need an energy miracle,” Gates told The Atlantic magazine. “That may make it seem too daunting to people, but miracles in science are happening all the time.” Gates said he is pledging $2 billion of his foundation’s endowment to research and develop alternative energy technologies. He criticized the divestment movement for “using up (campaigners’) idealism and energy on something that won’t emit less carbon.” The Gates Foundation, the world’s largest charitable organization, has $1.4 billion invested in fossil fuel companies, and activists have been calling on Gates to sell those holdings.