New York: Innovation is a key to tackling carbon emissions, and governments should be encouraged to invest more than what they have done, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has said.
In a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua news agency, Gates, also co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, cited many sources of emissions like steel and cement factories, and the way people grow rice, make fertilizer and raise livestock, saying the world can not skip over any of these to reach zero emissions.
‘To solve these problems, innovation is a key,’ he said, noting that the basic R&D is a huge area for cooperation, especially the most difficult areas such as making green hydrogen very cheap to produce green steel or green fertilizer.
Among the new energy categories, Gates said, he favors nuclear power most, which enjoys advantages in transmission and maintaining reliability. As nuclear plants are becoming safer and cheaper, he added, it could have a role to play, because it is always available, no matter what the weather.
He said no doubt wind and solar will be a gigantic part of the future electricity generation, but unless there is a miracle of storage, sources like nuclear that do not depend on the wind or sun are necessary.
