THE FINANCIAL DISTRICT CRAFTS A NEW TAKE ON GATESNOTES

Bill Gates disputed the take of what he said were "prophets of doom" who erroneously maintain that a green economy will mean the loss of jobs.

The assertion that the US would be jobless and consigned to a miserable future due to a shift to a green economy, is bereft of the truth, Gates said. He said that, when car companies dump internal combustion engines, power generating firms shift to renewable energy, and the world shuns fossil fuels, new employment opportunities will certainly arise.

In his GatesNotes on March 2, 2021 (March 3 in Manila), Bill Gates stressed that far from being the prophets of doom, champions of a green economy actually offer new opportunities for everyone, from those who fear losing jobs in Detroit carmakers, Seattle cement plants, Ohio and North Carolina manufacturing companies, coal mines in West Virginia and oil firms in Texas. Gates says the US has to be a green economy by 2050.

“To begin with, it’s crucial to recognize that this transition will happen in an economy that is already incredibly dynamic. The demand for workers can shift quickly from one sector to another, and from one geographic area to another. And these changes aren’t just driven by clean energy—other factors like automation and robotics play an essential role too,” Gates argued.

For example, if green hydrogen fuels turn out to be a big business, we’ll still need pipelines and trucks to move them around—just as we move around oil and gas today. Mining skills could also be useful in sourcing minerals, like lithium and copper, which are used in the production of clean technologies and will be in increasingly high demand,” he added.

Gates said the gray horizon painted by the prophets of gloom can be taken care of by what he cited were the four principles that must be taken into consideration for the transition: Think big and start now; Learn from promising examples; Commit the resources to make it work, and; Stay on track.

Gates argues that there are at least three examples that US cities and regions can emulate as far as greening an economy is concerned.

For one, Toledo, Ohio, known as the “Glass City” for being the hub of the US glass-making industry, shifted to making solar panels when the glass industry hit rock-bottom. “In Pueblo, Colorado, business and government leaders are transforming a historic iron mill—once the only steel-making company west of the Mississippi—into the world’s first electric arc furnace powered primarily by solar energy. That project will ensure that at least 1,000 steelworkers keep their jobs and create hundreds of construction jobs,” he added.

In New York state, all offshore wind projects are now compelled to pay prevailing wages to workers installing wind turbines, and local unions are mighty proud of that achievement.

The shift to a green economy entails funding and governments and private sector leaders must commit the resources to make it work.

Gates notes that Germany is planning to spend more on this shift than on research and development (R&D) into clean-energy innovation.

The US must commit to higher R&D funding, as what China is doing, and must produce the brain trust for it, a generation of engineers and scientists who focus on these new areas must be born and nurtured.

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