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Adam Bowie

Practical steps the planet can take

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 February 2021

Verified Purchase

A year or so ago I read The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells, which laid out in often horrific details, the kinds of things that would happen to the planet if we didn’t change our ways.

Bill Gates goes for the much more practical, “So what can we do about it now?” approach. This book is basically his plan to cut our carbon emissions from 51 billion tonnes to zero by 2050. That’s it in a nutshell. If we don’t then, like a bath, with even just a slow dripping tap, we’ll end up overflowing and facing some of the consequences that Wallace-Wells laid out in his earlier work.

To do this, in this enormously readable book, Gates takes us through where the emissions come from, and examines ways to work through each of those sectors, which he breaks down into making things, plugging in, growing things, getting around and keeping warm and cool.

He tackles each in turn, although he notes that we spend a lot of time thinking about “getting around” – aka transport – which accounts for 16% of net emissions, but not so much on making steel and concrete. The food industry also gets a good look-in.

Gates is putting his money where his mouth is. Throughout the book he talks about the various companies he’s invested in. This could sound a bit, “Aren’t I clever?” but it doesn’t. He’s just being practical. It comes from the work he and his wife Melinda have carried out through their Gates Foundation in doing very practical things like fighting malaria. So he’s constantly referring to people he’s met, and businesses he’s keenly following.
And throughout, he is very pragmatic. Only a few of us are willing – or even able – to pay a “Green Premium” for some of life’s essentials. He readily acknowledges that the lower the income you are in, the bigger a proportion of your overall costs something like transport will be. So paying even a small premium is simply not affordable. He’s also very aware that the big growth in greenhouse gases is likely to come from developing parts of the world where billions are coming to expect the same kinds of middle-class lifestyles that Americans and Europeans have experienced.

So, what are the solutions? Well, this isn’t really a list of things that you or I can do directly – assuming neither of us is a world leader. There are some of those things, but this is more about policy as well as corporate and governmental support and investment. When we buy the cheapest concrete or steel, there is no carbon-cost attached to it. There’s no incentive to use the greener materials.

And where there are financial incentives, they don’t necessarily help. The energy industry is rife with them, but they protect the enormously cheap fossil fuel industry. On the other hand, laws might make it ridiculously hard to build things like windfarms (a particular problem, seemingly, in the US).

There are things which make you raise your eyebrows a bit. Gates doesn’t believe that just planting lots of trees will fix things. He’s got nothing against trees but I think sees them as a too simplistic solution that will require ongoing care to payback their investment over centuries. He is a big proponent of nuclear fuel, pointing out that while wind and solar energy are fantastic, they don’t provide consistent power. And even though at heart, Gates is a technologist through and through, he doesn’t see battery technology meaningfully moving on, which causes difficulties if you need to store vast amounts of power to even out supply on windless or cloudy days.

Some will look at Gates, flying around in his private jet and wonder if he really practices what he preaches? He acknowledges his own shortcomings, but I think this book shows that he is indeed putting his money where his mouth is.

Getting to net zero will not be easy, as he repeats throughout, but it’s achievable and he’s laid out a plan to get us there.

71 people found this helpful

Ruben

Excellent - Must Read Book - 5 *

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 February 2021

Verified Purchase

Excellent book. Bill Gates, really outlines the ins and outs of something most of the society ignores. Such optimism on his innovative perception and will on solving this global issue. I highly recommend.

66 people found this helpful

S Hussain

Exceptional book written by an exceptional individual.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 February 2021

Verified Purchase

Thought provoking. Insightful.

51 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Allows normal people to understand the necessary battle on climate change.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 February 2021

Verified Purchase

The book is written in a way that's easy to read, not too long, and deeply impactful throughout. In only a few hours I was able to dramatically further my understanding of the larger picture on climate change. This included the breakup of challenges that we face to avoid a climate disaster (which I personally found somewhat surprising), along with the current and future measures needed to tackle it (some of which I already knew more about than others).

32 people found this helpful

Sophismother

Unrealistic pie-in-the-sky nonsense

Reviewed in the United States on 19 February 2021

Verified Purchase

Bill Gates' new book was very disappointing to me. He did not seem to be able to relate to the realities of life. He imagines that the federal government will fund all kinds of very expensive bits of technology. The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated financial woes and increased the tendency of elected officials to be more tight-fisted. Doesn't he know this? Senators and Representatives from fossil-fuel-dependent states are not going to go along with Gates' idea of deliberately making fossil fuel products so much more expensive that people will want to buy carbon-free alternatives. Gates seems to imagine that there will be money available to upgrade the electric grids, the need for which was seen in the recent Texas power outages. He is giving some funding, but even billionaires cannot come up with trillions of dollars. Gates' true colors can be seen in what he did fairly recently - convincing Oxford University NOT to allow its Covid vaccine to be used for free by the entire world. (Jonas Salk gave his polio vaccine free to the world.) That example of Salk's apparently didn't sit well with Gates. He managed to convince Oxford University to partner up with AstraZeneca, so that Oxford's vaccine would enter the world of for-profit medicine. Meanwhile the Secretary-General of the UN reminds us that people in poor countries can't get Covid vaccines. Way to go, Gates. Morally bankrupt and a pie-in-the-sky billionaire who doesn't seem to see how close the world is to climate disaster. It is not going to be able to wait for his "wonderful" innovations. There was only one US plant to capture and sequester carbon emissions and it closed in early 2021. Let's have some reality checks.

534 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

When oil is cheaper than coca cola it is hard to save the world

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 February 2021

Verified Purchase

This is a really good accessible book explaining how we have arrived at the edge of climatic disaster and how we can all do something about it. There will be need for rethinking of policies and there are some hard problems such as how to make CO2 free cement. The challenges of increased economic growth around the world, keep our standards of living, more people having our standards of living, and at the same time cutting CO2 emissions from 51 billion tonnes to net zero in 30yrs is enormous. There are some sobering examples if what will happen eg reductions in food production in a warmer world. Bill highlights the 5 key sectors that emit the most CO2 and identifies the incredible opportunities and returns on green investments. He also advocates for technological advances to lower the 'Green Premium' paid for replacing products and services that normally emit CO2 eg purchase price electric vehicles being more expensive than existing petrol vehicles. There are already some success stories such as drought and flood tolerant crops. But the message is clear, at all levels of society, be it governments, corporations or individuals action has to happen.
This is a very readable book which I found hard to put down ( I read it over 3 evenings). It gives clear facts and makes recommendations that make sense, for example the need for more research and development spending and the problems of existing investment in clean tech due to higher costs, risks and long term payback particularly in energy systems.
Finally, the impact on the world economy of COVID-19 reduced emissions by 5%. Bill Gates was surprised by how little this was given the economic shock showing our reliance on fossil fuels in our daily lives. Change is possible but it has to come soon.

14 people found this helpful

Konrad W.

Solide recherchiert, kurzweilig, appellierend! 1-Stern-Bewertungen ignorieren!

Reviewed in Germany on 27 February 2021

Verified Purchase

Das Buch fasst zusammen, wo der aktuelle wissenschaftliche und technische Stand zum Thema Klima steht. Es ist gegliedert in übersichtliche Kapitel, die jeweils ein zentrales Thema haben. Nicht zu viel, nicht zu wenig, klasse!

Der Optimismus ist ansteckend und man wird begeistert, welche Innovationen es bereits gibt und hoffentlich demnächst geben wird. Dass das Buch mit einem konkreten Plan konkludiert ist richtig und wichtig, denn nur so weiß man, was man selber und letzten Endes wir alle zusammen tun können, um eine vielversprechende und nachhaltige Zukunft zu gestalten. Klimaschutz, Wirtschaftswachstum und ein besseres Leben für alle im Sinne des Humanismus agieren dabei symbiotisch und sich gegenseitig fördernd, nicht gegeneinander! Das eine schließt das andere nicht aus, ganz im Gegenteil!

1-Sterne-Bewertungen zu dem Buch wurden zu einem Zeitpunkt verfasst, an dem wohl kaum jemand das Buch überhaupt erhalten (!) geschweige denn gelesen hat. Ich habe vor etlichen Monaten vorbestellt und erhielt das Buch erst am 20.02.2021. Der grammatikalisch wie orthographisch unterirdische, beleidigende Inhalt der 1-Sterne-Bewertungen spricht für sich. Hier sind leider Verschwörungstheoretiker unterwegs, die hoffentlich baldig einen Weg aus dem Gefängnis der gedanklichen Paranoia finden.

42 people found this helpful

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Rachel Lafontaine

No Mention of Regenerative Agriculture

Reviewed in the United States on 20 February 2021

Verified Purchase

Bill Gates, with his vast supply of wealth and power surely has to have heard of the carbon-sequestration benefits of regenerative agriculture and no-till methods by now. However, instead of highlighting what will likely be one of the best solutions we have, he ignores it altogether, goes on a rant about cow farts and promotes the fake-meat companies he’s heavily invested in as our best solutions. Unfortunately, this thinking will still continue to kill the majority the planet’s soil and will also do nothing to stop the loss of carbon from the soil by tilling. Only regenerative agriculture can do this but Bill Gates doesn’t want you to know it exists because he’s got money to make off of turning people into fake-meat eating vegans, with zero long-term knowledge or consideration of the effects. Oh the joys of capitalism.

Very disappointed but not surprised. Automatic fail.

421 people found this helpful

Thomas Venus

Optimistic about Climate Change

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 February 2021

Verified Purchase

All of the negative reviews on this book I would ignore. They are politically motivated. Bill Gates admits on page 14 he is an imperfect messenger. He admits that he is just another rich guy preaching on climate. He admits he has a massive carbon footprint however he also details how he has put his money where his mouth is. He has divested from fossil fuel companies and plans to negate his whole families personal contribution. He has taken the decision to be open minded and learn from experts. He has gone from a position of ignorance to one of knowledge. This is the purpose of the book for the rest of us - to enlighten people about the truth around climate change. It’s bigger than all of us, bigger than left wing or right wing politics.

10 people found this helpful

Office worker

Interesting topic, little content

Reviewed in Germany on 28 February 2021

Verified Purchase

The topic is very interesting and I agree with most of Bills opinions, but I had expected more in-depth discussions from a smart and educated author as Bill Gates. For a scientist like myself, this book offers very little new insights. Its a nice overview but not much beyond a good "long read" article in a magazin oder weekend paper. Other than giving me a nice feeling that someone important like Bill Gates shares my opinions, this book did little to make it on top of my reading list. I would suspect, its more a bookshelf decoration than an educational. Very sad, because Bill recommends good books all the time - like I said before - I expected much more from him.

22 people found this helpful

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