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As if there was any doubt, we can go ahead and officially add climate change to the list of things that we can’t count on billionaires to figure out for us. According to the New York Times, Breakthrough Energy, a joint venture between Bill Gates and a handful of other billionaires who at least nominally care about the environment, is laying off a significant portion of its staff, which will likely neuter its capability to lobby and influence policy.
Now, on one hand, there’s some logic behind the shift in strategy for Breakthrough Energy, which was founded in 2015 and had its coffers filled with $1 billion worth of ammunition to pour into high-risk, high-reward climate solutions and innovations. The organization is slashing its policy staff—particularly in the United States—per the Times, reasoning that it’s unlikely they’ll be able to make much headway in shaping laws during the Trump administration.
That’s probably not a bad call, as Trump famously does not believe climate change is a real thing. He’s already reversed course on several major climate policies, is removing references to climate change from government documents and websites, and is trying to freeze climate-related spending from the Inflation Reduction Act. He’s also appointed Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, and his whole thing seems to be trying to accelerate the conditions that would exacerbate climate change, so probably not a lot of opportunity for collaboration there.
But also…what are you gonna do with the money, Bill? You can’t take it with you when you’re gone. So, policy is a bit of a money pit right now. Start lobbying at the state level instead. Make inroads in municipalities where the political landscape is favorable, but fossil fuel interests are able to overwhelm them with dark money. Take Rhode Island, for example. Democrats have held all three branches of government for over a decade, but efforts to pass a carbon pricing law kept getting thwarted by massive lobbying efforts.
Plus, it’s not totally clear that there isn’t at least a narrow path to work with the Trump administration on something that could be a net positive when it comes to reducing carbon emissions. As Heatmap News points out, Breakthrough Energy was one of the few climate-conscious lobbying groups that did not discriminate against more controversial low-carbon energy production like nuclear power. Trump is reportedly interested in expanding nuclear power across the country.
On top of that, while Trump has made it clear that he intends to kill every bit of the Inflation Reduction Act as he possibly can—a bill that Gates and Breakthrough Energy lobbied hard for during the Biden administration—there’s actually some signs that Republicans may not want to give up the money the bill made available to their communities. Per Politico, at least 21 House Republicans signed a letter urging Trump not to kill off clean energy tax credits that have benefited their constituents. These are people who can potentially be tapped to solidify at least some pro-climate policies. You don’t get to dictate the playing field, but you can still find ways to play ball.
Instead, it appears Gates and company are just going to pull up stakes for the time being, giving up on policy and shifting spending efforts to funding startups and clean energy companies, according to the New York Times. That’s fine, obviously, there is plenty of room for the discovery of new and novel approaches to alternative energy production. But adoption still requires lobbying and policy efforts.
