Former Just Stop Oil donor Dale Vince has ripped into Bill Gates, a fellow environmental campaigner, by questioning his input in tackling the climate crisis.
The Ecocity founder, who has donated more than £1.4million to Labour since 2014, believes that the climate crisis is easy to solve and won’t compromise our everyday lifestyles.
In a scathing blast of other environmental experts, Vince hit out at Bill Gates, who published his book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster in 2021.
Speaking to The Times, Vince was questioned why other eco experts were not as confident as him that new affordable technological solutions could solve the crisis, specifically Gates.
Dale Vince has ripped into Bill Gates, a fellow environmental campaigner, over his role in tackling the climate crisis
Getty/PA
“Bill Gates did one thing: he gave the world Windows, that’s it. A knock-off version of Apple. He’s not a genius,” he said.
“Has he even built one windmill? I know I’m right, because I do it.”
Vince founded Britain’s first renewable energy supplier, Ecotricity, in 1995, after rigging up a windmill on the roof of his camper van at the Glastonbury festival to see if he could charge mobile phones.
Vince, who is now worth more than £100million, also installed the motorway network’s first electric vehicle charging stations.
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In October, Vince announced he would be stopping his financial support for Just Stop Oil, admitting that any actions they take would be “pointless”.
He supported the eco-group since it was founded in February 2022, and has given them over £340,000.
He said further protests from the group would be “counter-productive”, as it would help “feed the Tories’ culture-war narrative”.
Vince said that the continued disruption was futile as the Government will not change its stance on oil and gas drilling in the North Sea.
In October, Vince announced he would be stopping his financial support for Just Stop Oil
PA“In order to 'just stop oil', first we need to just stop the Tories,” he concluded, before stating that he plans to divert his money and efforts to propping up an anti-Conservative campaign.
Labour has promised to ban any new licenses from being granted to drill in the North Sea.
His redirected efforts on the project are in hopes that it will bring a green government to power.
In a statement, Vince said: “It's a fact of our electoral system that only one of two parties can form the next government; we want to bring a focus to this reality and to the opportunity that we have - to elect a green government, one that will embrace the opportunities we face, rather than make an enemy of them - and use them to tackle the long list of issues we face as a country.”
