Prediction of Climate Catastrophe Loses Some of Its Strongest Advocates

‘People will be able to live and thrive in most places on Earth for the foreseeable future,’ Bill Gates said in a hotly debated op-ed.

Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates during an interview in Berlin on Jan. 27, 2015. TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP via Getty Images

Tech billionaire Bill Gates’s recent blog post stating that the “doomsday view” of environmental and social catastrophe from global warming is wrong appears to mark a significant shift in the debate over climate change.

While reiterating the orthodoxy that climate change will have “serious consequences” and will hurt poor people the most, Gates goes on to say that “it will not lead to humanity’s demise.”