Bill Gates has publically abandoned some of his eco-friendly positions. His move slightly rightward is causing concern among leftists, who are aghast by the sudden change.
Billionaire on the Left
The shift by one of the world’s wealthiest individuals seems out of character with his past. When Mr. Gates first publicized his political positions, he always tended to be very liberal. He was a primary backer of the infamous Common Core, the now largely discarded program that would have revolutionized American education. The billionaire’s Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation expresses support for “abortion rights” and provides funding for family planning and contraception. He donated $50 million to the Kamala Harris campaign.
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He also became a major but rather unique environmentalist. Most “tree huggers” types see progress as public enemy number one. On the contrary, Mr. Gates preached a gospel of technology as the global climate savior. In 2010, the reliably leftist Rolling Stone summed up his position in careful but also admiring tones.
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“When it comes to climate and energy, Gates is a radical consumerist. In his view, energy consumption is good—it just needs to be clean energy. As he sees it, the biggest challenge is not persuading Americans to buy more efficient refrigerators…, it’s figuring out how to raise the standard of living in the developing world without wrecking the climate. Achieving that, he argues, will require an ‘energy miracle’—a technological breakthrough that creates an inexhaustible supply of carbon-free energy.”
To implement his visions, he founded (and elaborately endowed) Breakthrough Energy in 2015. It had two primary functions: its political arm works with governments worldwide to promote “green energy” policies and its technological mission aids the development of zero-carbon energy sources.
In mid-March 2025, Mr. Gates caused a great uproar by closing down most of the policy offices. However, the technology effort is alive and well.
His action reflects the two branches of the ecology movement. The techno-greens tend to support a transhumanist agenda, in which humanity will use technology to create and design a new humanity to overcome its problems and save the Earth.
The eco-friendly greens do not acknowledge this technology component. They believe that the only way to fix the greenhouse gas issue is to substantially decrease Earth’s human population and reduce the use of fossil fuels to save the environment. Many of them adhere to the idea of eventual human extinction. To them, government policy to bring about a green new world is everything. Thus, they see Mr. Gates’s shift as nothing short of treason.
“Cut and Paste” Coverage
Futurism announced, “Bill Gates Gives Up on Climate Change.” The Daily Galaxy moans, “Bill Gates Gives Up on Saving the Planet: A Turning Point for Environmentalism.” GeekWire‘s headline is a bit more reasonable, “Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Cuts Climate Policy Team.”
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Coverage from the three is almost interchangeable. In order to see the cataclysm through their eyes, a snippet from each will do.
Futurism—“In decades past, as the effects of climate change slowly became undeniable, some looked to the super-rich—the billionaires with enough cash to really make a splash—for solutions…. By the early 2020s, billionaires had positioned themselves as the masters of climate change policy…. Now, however, many of those same billionaires are pulling support at an alarming rate. And Bill Gates—Microsoft founder, the sixth richest man in the world… is the latest among them.”
The Daily Galaxy—“For years, the world’s wealthiest individuals have been at the forefront of the fight against climate change. With their vast resources, billionaires like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk have funded green energy initiatives, backed carbon capture technologies, and championed climate-friendly policies.”
GeekWire—“The retrenchment comes as the Trump administration continues its efforts to erase climate language from federal agencies, aims to drastically cut scientific climate research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and tries to stop funding for clean energy investments through the U.S. Department of Energy and elsewhere.”
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More mainstream outlets focused on a dinner at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate with a tiny guest list. Other than Mr. Trump, there were only three participants: Mr. Gates, an unnamed Gates aide and incoming White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles. By all accounts, Mr. Gates was impressed with the President. The Hill quoted the tech billionaire.
“‘I felt like he was energized and looking forward to helping to drive innovation,’ Gates said about the conversation during the nearly three-hour dinner. ‘I was frankly impressed with how well he showed a lot of interest in the issues I brought up.’”
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Of course, many on the eco-left see a sinister conspiracy of billionaires. In their minds, Mr. Gates’s action aligns with two other actions since Mr. Trump’s re-election. One was Mr. Bezos’s shift to emphasize “personal liberties and free markets“ at the liberal Washington Post. The other was Mark Zuckerberg’s policy changes at Facebook-parent company Meta, which MSNBC called a “MAGA-friendly makeover.” The capstone of this pyramid was Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter (now called “X”) in October 2022, part of what NBC referred to as a “chaotic saga.”
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Of course, the billionaires’ shift to the transhumanist agenda represents an advance of a revolution that seeks to overturn any remnants of Christian civilization.
However, the focus of this revolution is to blend humanity and technology. Many see AI as a driving force in this radical transformation that is fast approaching. Past causes (like wokism) can be sacrificed on the virtual altar in this new phase.
Also on the chopping block is the standard environmentalism that has long represented the left’s cause. That’s why the world’s most informed and wealthiest men are leaving this cause behind and moving forward to a brave new techno-world.
Meanwhile, this abandonment is causing increased despair among the less informed leftists. This already demoralized left is becoming increasingly more so. They see red when billionaires like Bill Gates refuses to see their shade of green.
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