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by GcVmvNhBsU 1897 days ago
He also does a lot to offset his private jets.

> I have a higher-than-average carbon footprint, so I’m taking extra steps to do my part. In the book I briefly mention how I’m offsetting my own emissions. I spend about $5 million every year to offset my family’s carbon footprint. As of now, the standard calculation for carbon footprints is based on an estimate of $400 per ton of emissions. But since the way we calculate carbon footprints is still in its infancy, I take our family’s carbon footprint and double it to make sure we are fully covering our footprint and then some.

> I also like to think of my investments in zero-carbon technologies as another kind of offset for my emissions. Investing in companies doesn’t make my carbon footprint smaller. But if I’ve picked any winners, they’ll be responsible for removing much more carbon than I am responsible for creating. I have given more than $1 billion toward innovations and ideas that I hope will help the world get to zero—including affordable and reliable clean energy, low-emissions cement, steel, meat, and more.

https://www.gatesnotes.com/Energy/What-you-can-do-to-fight-c...
2 comments
varispeed 1897 days ago
> I spend about $5 million every year to offset my family’s carbon footprint.

It's not like this money magically got created. In order for him to have $5 million, someone had to pay it, maybe by creating even more pollution. At least he is aware that he is doing bad thing, but the attitude "I am rich, so I can" is narcissistic and wrong.

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otterley 1897 days ago
You're treating economics as a zero-sum game, which is false. The world as a whole is significantly better off than it was before, and we cannot attribute all of our productivity and qualify-of-life gains solely to the exploitation of natural resources and oppressing people.

Does terrible things happen as a result of moral hazard? Sure. But does anyone who earns a dollar take a dollar from someone else, or the world, to obtain it? No.

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fctorial 1897 days ago
> I spend about $5 million every year to offset my family’s carbon footprint.

And how much carbon does he emit to earn that 5 million. That emission isn't part of his family's emission because it comes from microsoft. It's like tax evasion but for carbon emission.

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