In his new book “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster”, Bill Gates presents a 30-year plan to change our behavior from how we make concrete to what we eat as part of a decisive effort to save the planet.
President Joe Biden “chose the right people” to oversee many of these efforts, former Microsoft CEO (MSFT) told Yahoo Finance editor Andy Serwer in an extensive interview on Wednesday.
Gates specifically mentioned the White House National Climate Advisor, Gina McCarthy, and the US Presidential Special Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, both in positions that did not exist in previous administrations. He also called Brian Deese, the new director of the National Economic Council, who is focusing on climate change.
Gates says he has also spoken to Biden several times recently. “The two topics we talked about were pandemics – ending this one and avoiding the next one – and also climate change,” he said.
Government efforts on the issue are now “really coming into focus,” said Gates.
‘It’s really about China and India’
In November, the UN Conference of the Parties on Climate Change in Glasgow will bring together countries to accelerate efforts like the Paris Agreement, to which the United States recently returned. The meeting “will be very, very important,” says Gates.
He specifically highlighted the global role that former Secretary of State Kerry will play in the coming years when it comes to convincing the rest of the world to commit.
“It’s really about China and India,” said Gates, about what it takes to turn the corner globally on issues like burning coal. China has set a target for the year 2060 to become carbon neutral. India has not made a similar commitment, but Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to work together on climate change and other issues during a recent call with Biden.
‘Too much delegated authority’
On the domestic side, the efforts of the Biden government are being led by former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Gina McCarthy. During a recent interview with Yahoo Finance, McCarthy discussed some government initiatives, specifically a climate-focused infrastructure bill that Biden promised to reveal in the coming weeks.
“Your future is based on clean energy,” she said of the president. “Your future is based on recognizing where jobs are today and in the future and how we use that influence to really restore our economic growth, but also to meet the challenge of climate change.”
McCarthy also serves as president of the new National Climate Task Force and recently convened a meeting at which leaders from 21 federal agencies across the new government pledged to include climate in their mission.
Gates was thrilled that Biden gave his team a free rein to move forward on several initiatives. In his new book, Gates calls for a series of government actions, including new resources to help research technological advances and new policies to make companies pay a price for carbon emissions.
During the interview, Yahoo Finance asked McCarthy directly if Biden would ever propose a so-called carbon tax. “I think there are many ways to put a price on carbon,” she replied.
Ben Werschkul is a writer and producer at Yahoo Finance in Washington, DC.
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