Bill Gates calls on all the rich countries to change entirely to 100% lab-grown meat to save the planet from climate change disaster

For over a decade now, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has been warning us about the threats of climate change. At the height of the coronavirus pandemic last year when states were shutting down businesses, Gates warned that the ‘shutdown’ was ‘nowhere near sufficient’ to stop climate change. Early this month, Gates also warned that bioterrorism and climate change are the next biggest threats.

Gates recently published a new book titled, “How to avoid a climate disaster,” to bring climate change awareness to millions of people around the world and provide a clear framework of understanding for thinking about climate policy and for prioritizing climate action for maximum impact. In his new book, Gates also laid out what it will really take to eliminate the greenhouse-gas emissions driving climate change.

Now, Gates is taking his plan on how to reduce climate change to a new level. In a question and answer session with MIT Technology Review, Gates talked about his new book and how his thinking on climate change has evolved, and the need for “all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef.”

When asked if what if he thinks plant-based and lab-grown meats could be the full solution to the protein problem globally, even in poor nations, Gates responded with the following:

“So no, I don’t think the poorest 80 countries will be eating synthetic meat. I do think all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef. You can get used to the taste difference, and the claim is they’re going to make it taste even better over time. Eventually, that green premium is modest enough that you can sort of change the [behavior of] people or use regulation to totally shift the demand.”

Below are the questions and answers from the interview.

Q: Do you think plant-based and lab-grown meats could be the full solution to the protein problem globally, even in poor nations? Or do you think it’s going to be some fraction because of the things you’re talking about, the cultural love of a hamburger, and the way livestock is so central to economies around the world?

A: For Africa and other poor countries, we’ll have to use animal genetics to dramatically raise the amount of beef per emissions for them. Weirdly, the US livestock, because they’re so productive, the emissions per pound of beef are dramatically less than emissions per pound in Africa. And as part of the [Bill and Melinda Gates] Foundation’s work, we’re taking the benefit of the African livestock, which means they can survive in heat, and crossing in the monstrous productivity both on the meat side and the milk side of the elite US beef lines.

So no, I don’t think the poorest 80 countries will be eating synthetic meat. I do think all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef. You can get used to the taste difference, and the claim is they’re going to make it taste even better over time. Eventually, that green premium is modest enough that you can sort of change the [behavior of] people or use regulation to totally shift the demand.

So for meat in the middle-income-and-above countries, I do think it’s possible. But it’s one of those ones where, wow, you have to track it every year and see, and the politics [are challenging]. There are all these bills that say it’s got to be called, basically, lab garbage to be sold. They don’t want us to use the beef label.