REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, speaks at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York City, U.S., September 20, 2017.
- Renewable energy sources aren't enough to eliminate the harmful effects of climate change, Bill Gates wrotein a recent blog post.
- To prevent climate-related disasters such as floods, drought, and extreme temperatures, the world must focus on five "grand challenges," Gates said.
- While electricity is the largest single source of global emissions, sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, and buildings also pose a threat to environmental safety.
Bill Gates has a message for those worried about climate-related disasters like hurricanes, droughts, flooding, and extreme temperatures: No solution works on its own.
In a recent blog post, Gates refuted the idea that renewable energy sources like solar panels and wind turbines hold the key to saving our planet.
"To stop the planet from getting substantially warmer," he wrote, "we need breakthroughs in how we make things, grow food, and move people and goods - not just how we power our homes and cars."
That's a lofty goal - especially in light of a recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which found that the effects of climate change could reach catastrophic levels in just two decades.
To get ahead of the problem, Gates said, the world must focus on five "grand challenges" to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which linked to rising global temperatures. These challenges have also been identified by the Environmental Protection Agency as the main sources of global emissions.