‘We don’t have unlimited money’: WA Policy Center VP echoes Gates on disciplined climate budgets

Bill Gates thinks climate change is a serious problem, but it won’t be the end of civilization. In a 17-page memo released Tuesday, Gates said the world’s primary goal should instead be to prevent suffering, and urged world leaders to ask whether the money designated for climate is being spent on the right things.

Todd Myers, Vice President for Research at the Washington Policy Center, agreed with Gates’ statements on effectively allocating funds to resources that provide the best results, rather than throwing money at the issue altogether.

“Bill sort of bought into the standard narrative, which is that climate change was an existential crisis, or very close to one,” Myers said. “He sort of toned down that rhetoric on how serious climate change is. I really loved where he said we don’t have unlimited amounts of money and resources, so you have to put resources where they make the biggest bang for the buck. This has been my mantra for the last 15 years in Washington. We tend to spend money on things that feel and sound good, but don’t work very well.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

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