Bill Gates Is Giving Up on Climate Change as Trump Drains the Woke Out of Washington

As if there was any doubt , we can go in advance and officially add clime change to the list of things that we ca n’t count on billionaires to figure out for us . According to the New York Times , Breakthrough Energy , a joint venture between Bill Gates and a handful of other billionaires who at least nominally care about the environment , is laying off a significant portion of its staff , which will belike neuter its capability to buttonhole and influence policy .

Now , on one script , there ’s some logic behind the transmutation in strategy for Breakthrough Energy , which was founded in 2015 andhad its coffers filled with $ 1 billionworth of ammunition to teem into high - hazard , high - advantage clime solutions and innovation . The organization is slash its insurance policy staff — specially in the United States — per the Times , reason that it ’s improbable they ’ll be able to make much headway in shaping laws during the Trump governing .

That ’s probably not a unsound call , as Trump famously does not think mood change is a literal matter . He ’s alreadyreversed courseon several major climate policies , isremoving references to climate changefrom governance documents and websites , and istrying to freeze climate - have-to doe with spendingfrom the Inflation Reduction Act . He ’s also appointed Lee Zeldin to head the Environmental Protection Agency , and his whole thing seems to be trying toaccelerate the condition that would exasperate climate change , so probably not a lot of chance for quislingism there .

Bill Gates seated at a conference hosted by TIME

Bill Gates seated at a conference hosted by TIME© Jemal Countess / Stringer (Getty Images)

But also … what are you gon na do with the money , Bill ? You ca n’t take it with you when you ’re gone . So , insurance is a spot of a money endocarp aright now . set forth buttonhole at the State Department level or else . Make inroads in municipality where the political landscape is favorable , but fossil fuel interests are capable tooverwhelm them with dark money . Take Rhode Island , for instance . Democrats have carry all three branches of government for over a 10 , but efforts to pass a carbon copy pricing law keptgetting spoil by massive lobbying travail .

Plus , it ’s not totally clear that there is n’t at least a narrow path to work with the Trump administration on something that could be a final cocksure when it come to reducing carbon emissions . AsHeatmap News points out , Breakthrough Energy was one of the few climate - conscious lobbying groups that did not separate against more controversial down - carbon paper energy production like nuclear power . best isreportedly interested in expanding nuclear poweracross the country .

rather , it come out Gates and company are just run to pull up stake for the sentence being , giving up on policy and shift spending efforts to support startups and blank energy companies , according to the New York Times . That ’s fine , obviously , there is plenty of room for the discovery of new and novel approaching to alternate energy production . But adoption still require lobby and policy attempt .

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