Bill Gates: 'Our grandchildren will grow up in a world that is dramatically worse off' if we don't fix climate change

In a letter published on his personal blog on Tuesday, Bill Gates addresses areas he has been focusing on in the past year and what lies ahead.

Bill Gates: 'Our grandchildren will grow up in a world that is dramatically worse off' if we don't fix climate change

The idea of becoming a grandparent is emotional for Bill Gates to even write about.

“I started looking at the world through a new lens recently—when my older daughter gave me the incredible news that I’ll become a grandfather next year,” Gates writes a letter published just past midnight on Tuesday on his personal blog, Gates Notes.

Gates’ 26-year-old daughter, Jennifer and her husband, Nayel Nassar, are expecting their first baby in 2023.

“Simply typing that phrase, ‘I’ll become a grandfather next year,’ makes me emotional,” Gates writes. “And the thought gives a new dimension to my work. When I think about the world my grandchild will be born into, I’m more inspired than ever to help everyone’s children and grandchildren have a chance to survive and thrive.”

Gates goes on, over 12 pages, to summarize the work his namesake philanthropic organization, the Gates Foundation, is doing for children living in global poverty, to improve education, pandemic preparedness and the fights against polio and AIDS.

Gates also talks about the work he is doing to combat climate change, both through the Gates Foundation on a philanthropic basis and in supporting early-stage climate companies with his investment firm, Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

How well the current generation of leaders respond to climate change will impact future generations, which is the first point Gates makes in the section of his letter where he addresses climate change.

“I can sum up the solution to climate change in two sentences: We need to eliminate global emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050,” Gates writes. “Extreme weather is already causing more suffering, and if we don’t get to net-zero emissions, our grandchildren will grow up in a world that is dramatically worse off.”