• A new essay by billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, “Three Tough Truths About Climate,” marks a dangerous shift that could undermine his notable contributions to solving the climate crisis, the former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, argues in a new op-ed.
• His suggestion that the world must choose between financing development or climate action falsely presents a zero-sum situation, she says, adding that Gates must publicly set the record straight before this idea is further used as a justification for backsliding on climate action.
• “The great challenge of our time is to build a future where every person can thrive on a healthy planet. That means rejecting the idea that we must choose between human progress and environmental protection,” Robinson writes.
• This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

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Bill Gates has long been a leading voice in the global response to human health and climate change. His climate investments and advocacy have helped drive innovation, expand access to clean energy, and push climate action higher on the world’s agenda. However, his recent essay, “Three Tough Truths About Climate,” marks a dangerous shift that could undermine that contribution.

Gates writes with admirable nuance and his proposed shift to focus finance on outcomes that reduce human suffering, rather than emissions reduction, projects a tone of reason and compassion. However, I read his reflections with concern and believe that his framing risks reinforcing three misconceptions that could slow, rather than accelerate, progress at a critical moment for the planet and its most vulnerable populations.

First, the suggestion that the world must choose between financing development and financing climate action falsely presents a zero-sum situation. By suggesting that we must prioritize one over the other, Gates assumes that we live in a world where our current scarcity of development and climate resources is fixed for all time. While cuts to overseas development budgets in countries like the United States, France, Germany, and the UK have decreased resources at the moment, there are numerous strategies to reverse that trend that we must seek to advance.

This should begin with public pressure for governments to restore and enhance their aid budgets. Countries should also follow through on their collective commitment to remove the more than $1 trillion in fossil fuel subsidies and the $500 billion of subsidies that harm nature by 2030. Governments should tax polluting industries to help mitigate the negative impact they are having on our climate and our natural world. Finally, Gates himself should urge more of the world’s 3,000 billionaires to fund climate and health and development initiatives, starting with the many billionaires who signed Gates’ own giving pledge but are failing to follow through. Each of these strategies should be comprehensively pursued before arriving at the dangerous suggestion that we must choose to support one critical cause at the expense of another.

People play volleyball against the backdrop of the Suralaya coal power plant in the background, Cilegon city, Banten Province, Indonesia. Image courtesy of Ulet Ifansasti.

Second, as I feared, Gates’s nuanced argument is already being misused by those who seek to undermine climate action altogether. U.S. President Donald Trump falsely used his argument to push for a global abandonment of climate action and to suggest that it proves that climate change is a hoax. Any suggestion that climate action is a luxury, or that the costs outweigh the benefits, will now be eagerly seized upon by those whose interests lie in prolonging the fossil fuel status quo. Gates must publicly set the record straight before his strategy pivot is further used as a justification for backsliding on climate action. The science is crystal clear – every fraction of a degree of warming avoided means lives saved and futures secured.

Third, the belief that technology alone can solve the climate crisis overlooks the vital role that nature plays in mitigating climate change. Innovation is essential, of course, but so are forests, wetlands, mangroves, and oceans, which together absorb nearly half of global emissions. When we degrade these ecosystems, we accelerate warming and deepen human suffering. When we protect them, we build resilience, support livelihoods, and safeguard biodiversity.

Nature is not an optional ‘extra’ in the fight against climate change: it is a living system that underpins our survival. Technological ingenuity and nature-based solutions must work in tandem if we are to succeed. And we must not forget that nature is also in crisis, and solving the climate crisis without simultaneously addressing the biodiversity crisis imperils all life on earth. Look to Indigenous leaders who have consistently advocated for climate action and nature; they have not put their faith in yet-to-be scaled techno fixes, but rather in a worldview that values life in harmony with the planet which considers future generations.

And while Gates had been influential and philanthropic, we must not make global shifts in development policy to suit the whims of one exceptionally wealthy man. The world came together to develop the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) following the most inclusive process in U.N. history, with more than eight million people participating in their development. They rightfully take a comprehensive view that recognizes that we need to work on multiple development issues in concert, including poverty, education, nature, gender equality, and health and justice among others.

Emergent rainforest tree in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler for Mongabay.

With COP30 about to begin in Belém, the world faces a defining moment. The Paris Agreement set our shared destination, but progress has been too slow. We are running out of time, but not out of options. Leaders must demonstrate that climate finance, protection of nature, and social justice are not competing priorities but mutually reinforcing goals.

A compelling example of what is possible lies in the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), an initiative that mobilizes public and private capital to reward tropical forest nations for keeping their forests standing. This mechanism treats forests as the economic assets they are, paying countries for the ecosystem services they provide to the entire planet. It shows how financial innovation can align profit with preservation.

Such models point the way forward. The transition to a net-zero, nature-positive world is not beyond our reach; it is a matter of political will and moral clarity. With political leadership and policy, we can secure the resources and the technology to act. What we need now is leadership that refuses to accept false choices and instead embraces a shared purpose – leadership that grows the pie, rather than creating a scuffle between development and climate over a currently inadequate portion.

Bill Gates is right to remind us that the path ahead will not be easy. But realism must not become resignation. The great challenge of our time is to build a future where every person can thrive on a healthy planet. That means rejecting the idea that we must choose between human progress and environmental protection.

We can, and must, have both.

Mary Robinson was the President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997 and then served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002.

Banner image: A full-circle rainbow arcing over an oil palm plantation in Jambi, Indonesia, amid native rainforest. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Related audio from Mongabay’s podcast: Despite recent setbacks for climate action, Christiana Figueres – under whose leadership with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Agreement was struck – remains optimistic that humanity can tackle the challenge, listen here:

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