Bill Gates often warns about the threat of climate change. But at the same time, the Microsoft tycoon still likes to travel by private plane, one of the biggest carbon-producing types of transportation.
In an interview with the BBC, Gates was asked for his views on the contradiction. According to him, using a private plane is not a problem because he also often donates his money to fight climate change.
"I'm funding Climeworks, to do live aerial photography that far exceeds my family's carbon footprint," Gates said, as quoted from CNBC, Wednesday (8/2/2023).
"And I'm spending billions of dollars on... climate innovation. So, should I stay home and not come to Kenya to learn about agriculture and malaria?" he continued.
Gates added that using private planes does not mean that he is part of the problem, and that he is actually part of the solution to climate change because he has already paid for carbon offsets and provided funding through Breakthrough Energy Group.
Traveling by plane is one of the activities that emit the most carbon emissions. Especially private planes that carry fewer people than commercial planes.
According to Yard data, in 2022 the average person will have seven tons of carbon emissions in one year. While celebrities and billionaires emit more than 3,300 tons of carbon from their private planes.
Gates himself previously spoke about Climeworks, a Swiss company that relies on direct air capture (DAC) technology to capture carbon dioxide directly from the air. The company already partners with several large enterprises, including Microsoft.
Even so, DAC is not the best solution to eliminate carbon emissions. The International Energy Agency (IEA) says capturing carbon dioxide from the air requires more energy and is more expensive than capturing it directly from the source.
"Carbon removal technologies such as DAC are not an alternative to reducing emissions or a reason for delayed action, but they can be an important part of the range of technology options used to achieve climate targets," the IEA said.