The unprecedented energy crisis that Europe is experiencing today is actually a “good thing in the long run”. So Bill Gates in an interview with Cnbc in which he states that when it no longer depends on Russian natural gas, continental Europe will gradually have to use renewable energies. Basically, the Microsoft founder wants to say, the turning point can come from an emergency situation. Public opinion “has been optimistic that the transition to renewable energy can happen quickly” continues Gates, but he also stressed that this process takes time and that there is a plan to speed up the conversion process.
Hence the philanthropist billionaire also argued that rich countries will need to increase spending to accelerate innovation, development and deployment of technologies that will help the world reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Developing economies are responsible for most of the emissions that cause global warming, but low- and middle-income countries should not be expected to slow the development of their economies to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, according to Gates. who is also founder of Breakthrough Energy Venturesa leading company in investments in climate technologies.
It is the responsibility of richer countries, such as the United States, which owe much of their current wealth to the combustion of fossil fuels, to finance the process of innovating technologies for decarbonise all sectors of the economy. The only solution, according to Gates, is create better and cheaper alternatives that do not emit greenhouse gases.
This process will have to be led by richer countries, even though developing economies are responsible for most of the emissions. “Low- and middle-income countries are aggressively building to achieve the living standards their citizens aspire to – and they should. Many countries in Europe and North America have filled the atmosphere with carbon to achieve prosperity, and it is unrealistic and unfair to expect everyone else to give up a more comfortable life because that carbon has been shown to change the climate, “he said. written Gates.