The man who warned the world to be ready for a global pandemic has now warned that the ticking timebomb of climate change will have wider and longer consequences. Microsoft billionaire, Bill Gates’ famous 2015 TED talk has been referenced many times during the current COVID-19 crisis, warning of the devastation a pandemic might cause. And now in a post on his blog, Gates has urged leaders to consider the damage which climate change might cause. “As awful as this pandemic is, climate change could be worse,” Gates said in his blog. “If you want to understand the kind of damage that climate change will inflict, look at COVID-19 and spread the pain out over a much longer period of time. The loss of life and economic misery caused by this pandemic are on par with what will happen regularly if we do not eliminate the world’s carbon emissions.” Gates has made reference to the trend for deaths or infections per 100,000, which is currently being used to demonstrate the terrible impact of coronavirus. Currently there are 14 deaths per 100,000 on a global basic for COVID-19, but the technology leader has suggested that climate change could be responsible for 73 extra deaths per 100,000 by the turn of the century. “Within the next 40 years, increases in global temperatures are projected to raise global mortality rates by the same amount — 14 deaths per 100,000,” he said. “By the end of the century, if emissions growth stays high, climate change could be responsible for 73 extra deaths per 100,000 people. In a lower emissions scenario, the death rate drops to 10 per 100,000. “By 2060, climate change could be just as deadly as COVID-19, and by 2100 it could be five times as deadly.” If we could have predicted the damage coronavirus would have inflicted on the economy we would have worked to slow its progress. You can slow climate change by investing in a subscription to offset your carbon emissions.