Gates: Some Oil Giants Won't Be Worth Much

A few of the world's big oil companies will survive the switch to clean energy, Bill Gates said Wednesday. But not all. "Some of these giants will fall, you know, 30 years from now," he said in Scotland, Axios reports, while "some of those oil companies will be worth very little." Gates made the comments in a briefing at the United Nations climate conference. At the same time, he issued a caution about writing the oil companies off, suggesting not buying into the conventional wisdom that "new eras are marked by the falling of giants."

They could well have a place in the future of energy, Gates said. "The whole idea of cutting off investment in the old as a tactic, as opposed to investing in the new, I just don't get that," he said. Although they're smaller parts of their businesses, some of the companies have diversified into renewables and EV charging and hydrogen, for starters. Gates has hope for "blue" hydrogen, for example, and said, "We have a pipeline infrastructure in the United States that probably can be retrofitted to transmit hydrogen." Scientists have had high hopes for blue hydrogen, but a recent study found its carbon footprint could turn out to be larger than that of existing fuels, per Smithsonian Magazine.

While at COP26, the billionaire expressed doubts that the global warming target specified in the Paris Agreement six years ago can be reached. It called for holding "global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels." Any success in that area would be helpful, Gates said, per CNBC, but he added, "1.5 … will be very difficult, I doubt that we’ll be able to achieve that." Almost 200 nations signed onto the agreement. Humans have never achieved such a daunting task as they face with climate change, Gates said. (More Bill Gates stories.)