Bill Gates Says Trump's Climate Rollbacks May Have Slowed Progress, But Microsoft Co-Founder Doesn't Think 'That's a Permanent Thing'

On Monday, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates spoke about the disruption in international climate cooperation in the wake of President Donald Trump's campaign.

What Happened: Speaking at Temasek Holdings' Ecosperity Week conference in Singapore, Gates said these disruptions are unlikely to last long, reported Bloomberg.

"There's a lot of commitment to this cause in the United States," Gates said, referring to the clean energy transition. 

Earlier in January, on the inauguration for his second term, Trump signed an executive order saying, "I'm immediately withdrawing from the unfair, one-sided Paris Climate Accords." In 2017, Trump withdrew from the global climate pact, which former President Joe Biden later reversed.

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"This current trend, where there's a little less cooperation going on, I don't think that's a permanent thing," Gates said, who appeared at the conference in his role as the founder of Breakthrough Energy, the report noted.

Why It's Important: Breakthrough Energy is a climate-tech investment firm backed by Gates, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos and Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) founder Jack Ma. It was established in 2015.

Last year, the firm raised $839 million in its third flagship round, which prioritized advancing climate technology and backing startups focusing on reducing emissions.

In March 2025, Breakthrough Energy announced significant operational cutbacks in an internal memo sent to staff, reported the New York Times.

In 2021, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a $315 million package to help smallholder farmers adapt to the growing threats posed by climate change.

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