Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, speaks during the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Beijing, China, on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019.
Takaaki Iwabu | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Bill Gates said the world needs more entrepreneurs like Elon Musk to take on climate change.
“I think what Elon’s done with Tesla is fantastic. It’s, you know, probably the biggest single contribution to showing us that electric cars are part of how we solve climate change,” Gates told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin in an interview that aired Thursday morning on “Squawk Box.” “We need a lot of Elon Musks, including… ones who work on these super hard categories,” he said, suggesting areas like steel and cement.
The billionaire philanthropist also pointed toward Musk’s carbon removal challenge, which was announced last month. Musk said on Twitter that he would donate $100 million toward a prize for the best technology that can capture carbon dioxide.
“Elon’s done a carbon capture prize, which is an amazing thing,” added Gates, who has a new book called “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.” It comes at a crucial time, as global carbon dioxide emissions have soared in the past century, leading to unprecedented global warming and climate change.
“I think he should be very proud of what he’s done,” Gates said.
