How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need

Bill Gates

Feb 2021 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Bill Gates and Wil Wheaton

About this audiobook

In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical--and accessible--plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe.

Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal.

He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions--suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise.

As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

*This audiobook includes a downloadable PDF of charts, graphs, and pictures from the book.

Ratings and reviews

I'm not sure why Bill Gates thinks that he is an expert on climate change. He is merely attempting to funnel more money into his radical agenda of population control. He is buying up farmland all over the USA and trying to tell us that cow farts are destroying the earth so that we will buy his laboratory created fake "meat." The climate has always been changing and always will change. When I was a kid in the 70s, these "liberals" were telling us that we were entering a NEW ICE AGE. Now, they claim the earth will OVERHEAT. Billions of tax dollars were spent then, and that is what they want to happen now. Resist.

I listed to the full audiobook. I realize that I might not be the right kind of audience for it. In my eyes, a lot of it (particularly in the first sections) seems rather basic. When explaining the physical mechanics of global warming, it didn't always seems really accurate or efficient. Specifically I have in mind the radiative heat balance. It felt confusing and lacking in important technical distinctions. This is a minor grip, and again, I'm not the target audience. The "innovating to zero" slogan is the defining characteristic of this book. I find it a very valid point, and it's well worth the effort he puts into it. He carries this theme into several compartments of the book, like optimizing 2030 targets versus 2050 targets. For what it's worth, I'm completely won over on the arguments, and I think that certain other climate skeptics should accept that they've arguing is approximately the same thing here. I have, myself, harbored deep cynicism about lifecycle greenhouse emissions calculations. These will count coal burned to enrich Uranium against nuclear power, which is patently absurd. That is clearly punishing a power source for arbitrary reasons. I would like to see a more empirical treatment of Gates' unimpeachable "steel and concrete emit CO2" argument. Or maybe such an academic tool exists and has not been connected to the book's content. This book has some reference value with the public policy details (not ideal for audiobooks). The author is clearly engaged in the relevant channels and gets specific far beyond what my grasp of government was. Do I feel like the voice actor matched the personality of the author? No. I'm not saying he was bad, but he clearly was not nerdy enough. My main misgiving lies in the whole point of its existence. The meaningful recommendations for actions are only on the political level. The frustrating thing about this topic is that politics are deadlocked with no way out in sight. I don't see space for the optimism espoused.

10% might be good, hence the 1 star. Narrow views with a clear personal agenda behind it.

About the author

Bill Gates is cochair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and founder of Breakthrough Energy. Bill founded Microsoft in 1975 with Paul Allen and led the company to become the worldwide leader in business and personal software and services. In 2008, Bill transitioned to focus full-time on his foundation’s work to expand opportunity to the world’s most disadvantaged people. As cochair, he leads the foundation’s development of strategies and sets the overall direction of the organization. Through his private office, Gates Ventures, he pursues his work on innovation in clean energy, Alzheimer’s disease and other healthcare issues, interdisciplinary education, and technology. At Breakthrough Energy, he’s putting his experience as an innovator and problem-solver to work to address climate change by supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs, big thinkers, and clean technologies. Bill uses his experience partnering with global leaders across sectors to help drive the policy, market, and technological changes required for a clean-energy transition. In 2010, Bill, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett founded the Giving Pledge, an effort to encourage the wealthiest families and individuals to publicly commit more than half of their wealth to philanthropic causes and charitable organizations during their lifetime or in their will.