Bill Gates is advocating for a strategic pivot in addressing climate change, suggesting that efforts should prioritize tackling poverty, disease, and hunger over merely reducing carbon emissions.

In an essay released on Monday, Gates, a long-time supporter of temperature control measures, argued for reallocating resources to enhance the quality of life in regions affected by climate change.

“Climate change, disease, and poverty are all significant issues,” Gates asserted. “Our approach should reflect the level of suffering they inflict.”

As the chair of the Gates Foundation, Gates emphasized the importance of redirecting efforts toward combating poverty and preventing diseases and hunger, rather than concentrating solely on temperature reduction.

Gates pointed out that global temperature metrics do not necessarily reflect the real conditions of people’s lives.

“Although climate change will have serious consequences — particularly for people in the poorest countries — it will not lead to humanity’s demise,” the Microsoft co-founder wrote. “This is a chance to refocus on the metric that should count even more than emissions and temperature change: improving lives. Our chief goal should be to prevent suffering, particularly for those in the toughest conditions who live in the world’s poorest countries.”

Gates hasn’t abandoned the fight against climate change. He noted that every tenth of a degree of warming matters.

This view shows the COP30 logotype at Docks Station in Belem, Para state, Brazil.  (Thomas Morfin/AFP via Getty Images)

“Every tenth of a degree of heating that we prevent is hugely beneficial because a stable climate makes it easier to improve people’s lives,” he wrote. 

The memo came ahead of next month’s COP30, a global summit focused on battling climate change to be held in Brazil. 

“Although climate change will hurt poor people more than anyone else, for the vast majority of them it will not be the only or even the biggest threat to their lives and welfare,” he added.

In recent years, Gates has focused on the goals of his Gates Foundation, which has donated billions of dollars to fund health care, education and development initiatives worldwide.