Bill Gates calls for ‘Green industrial revolution’ to beat climate crisis

Microsoft co-founder says his eponymous foundation will support a new agricultural initiative to combat climate change

Ex-Microsoft CEO and philanthropist Bill Gates on Tuesday said the world needs a “green industrial revolution” to encourage development of technologies to halt climate change.

Speaking to attendees at the Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow, Mr Gates said his foundation will contribute $315m in grants to CGIAR, the research organisation formerly known as the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research.

“As part of our work with AIM4C [the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate], I am announcing today that the foundation will provide an additional $315m over the next three years to an amazing organisation called CGIAR. CGIAR supports climate-smart agricultural research to help smallholder farmers in the developing world,” he said.

Mr Gates added that beating climate change will require innovation on a scale that makes green technologies more affordable than their carbon-emitting equivalents.

“If we’re going to scale the innovations that get us to zero, we need to reduce the cost difference between things that emit and things that don’t — a difference I call the Green Premium. The cost of the transition must be low enough that the whole world can afford it,” he said.