Nearly 900 Major Corporations and Bill Gates Shift Focus from Climate Mandates to Economic and Human Welfare Priorities

Nearly 900 major corporations, including multinational giants from the U.S., Britain, and China, have withdrawn from the UN-backed Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), criticizing its rigid emissions mandates as economically unviable and symbolic rather than practical. Corporate leaders argue that inflexible climate targets increase costs, stifle innovation, and harm competitiveness, favoring profitability and realistic strategies over politically driven, one-size-fits-all climate policies. In parallel, Bill Gates, once a staunch advocate for radical decarbonization, has shifted his stance to prioritize human welfare over strict emissions cuts, emphasizing poverty reduction, disease prevention, and economic growth. Gates highlights that excessive cold causes more deaths than heat and that energy use is beneficial for economic development, criticizing efforts to restrict fossil fuel production as counterproductive for low-income countries. His recent essay calls for moving away from temperature-focused climate activism toward measures that improve lives, signaling a broader, pragmatic reorientation in climate philanthropy and policy. This corporate and philanthropic pivot reflects growing disillusionment with alarmist climate narratives and underscores a demand for climate strategies grounded in economic realism and human well-being.