Breakthrough Energy, the climate group funded by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, has laid off dozens of employees in the US and Europe as it pulls back from public policy advocacy work that was a cornerstone of its mission.
The group laid off all of its staff in Europe as well as all of its US public policy team and staff members responsible for partnerships, according to a person familiar.
The move comes as US President Donald Trump enacts a plan aimed to boost fossil fuels and Republicans weigh whether to roll back parts of former President Joe Biden’s climate law, which Gates helped usher through Congress in 2022.
Breakthrough Energy is an umbrella organisation founded by Gates that houses various initiatives aimed at accelerating the clean energy transition. It also encompasses Breakthrough Energy Ventures, one of the biggest investors in early-stage climate technologies with stakes in more than 120 companies, as well as a grant-making programme for early-seed stage company founders and Breakthrough Catalyst, a funding platform focused on emergent climate technologies.
None of those divisions of the group were impacted by cuts, which were reported earlier by the New York Times.
“Bill Gates remains as committed as ever to advancing the clean energy innovations needed to address climate change,” a Breakthrough Energy spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “His work in this area will continue and is focused on helping drive reliable affordable, clean energy solutions that will enable people everywhere to thrive.”
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The world’s sixth-richest person with a net worth of US$160.1 billion ($213.24 billion), Gates is a longtime advocate for climate issues. In his 2021 book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, Gates wrote that “developing new policies” was essential to deploying cutting-edge climate technologies.
Breakthrough Energy’s decision to shift away from policy work comes as the Trump administration rolls back federal efforts to address climate change, including firing Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) staff; cancelling climate project grants; and pulling the US out of the Paris Agreement.
On Wednesday, the EPA announced a sweeping overhaul of climate regulations, including revising the so-called endangerment finding that is the legal foundation for most of the agency’s climate change rules.
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“In the United States especially, the conversation about climate has been sidetracked by politics,” Gates wrote in the introduction to his 2021 book. “Some days, it can seem as if we have little hope of getting anything done.”
The climate pullback is happening at the same time as the US cuts foreign aid, a field where Gates is also a major donor. His non-profit, the Gates Foundation, operates with a budget of billions and has a strong focus on overseas development.
