by Thomas Lepeltier, Causeur, 14 November 2025
On the eve of COP30, Bill Gates distanced himself from prophecies of climate collapse. He has not repudiated climate science, the article stresses: he points out that global warming is not the only urgent issue and that it would be absurd to fight it at the cost of a poorer world.
In brief
- In 2021, in his book Climat. Comment éviter un désastre, the founder of Microsoft presented global warming as one of the greatest perils of our time.
- On the eve of COP30, on his website Gates Notes, he criticises discourse that predicts the end of humanity, without downplaying the reality of global warming.
- Some, including Donald Trump, saw this as a repudiation; the author considers that reading misleading and sides with Gates on the essentials.
The column’s three arguments
Not a repudiation
Gates acknowledges that global warming will have harmful effects, especially for the poorest. He merely disputes the idea that it will lead to the disappearance of humanity.
Poverty and disease kill more
Even today, more people die from poverty and the diseases that accompany it than from heat or extreme weather events. The fight for the climate must not come at their expense.
Innovation and growth
For Gates, these scourges are fought through technological innovation and economic growth, which means not sacrificing development to emissions reduction alone.
‘He therefore deserves credit for reminding us that global warming is not the only urgent issue and that it would be absurd to fight it at the cost of a poorer world.’Thomas Lepeltier, Causeur, 14 November 2025
Why this debate interests us
APALA seeks to rank actions according to their real effectiveness, for the climate as well as for human wellbeing. This column raises a question of priorities that is often avoided: how can we tackle global warming without losing sight of poverty and health, which weigh more heavily today in the lives of the poorest? It also invites us to read a change of tone without caricaturing it, in one direction or the other.
Questions for debate
- Should global emergencies be ranked in order of priority, and by what criteria?
- Are the fight against global warming and the fight against poverty complementary or in competition?
- Does the discourse of collapse help to mobilise people, or does it divert attention from solutions?
To go further on apala.fr
Summary written by Claude (Opus 5.5 model), an artificial intelligence, for APALA, based on the article published in Causeur on 14 November 2025. The views expressed are those of the author. Spotted a mistake? Write to us.
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