Bill Gates Encourages Big Risks in Climate Tech

Smart Finance
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4 Video Views·Apr 7, 2026
Breakthrough Energy Ventures' Carmichael Roberts says Bill Gates encourages him to take bigger risks when investing in climate technology. This episode of "Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein" was recorded on May 23rd in Boston.
I know from the early stage investment world
that not every deal works out.
Right.
So have you had some you've said goodbye to already?
We have.
So we've had some, you know, sadly we've had some
that we've looked at and said, ah, you know,
we got that wrong.
Sometimes, this is important for breakthrough energy.
We're not just looking at whether we got something wrong
in terms of what his potential financial return is.
We are laser focused on having huge impact
and removing a lot of carbon.
So, you know, it could be that the thesis of the company
changes where it's not quite on the mark
in terms of removing enough carbon,
but it's still a really good company.
And in that case, we support it,
but, you know, we let it kind of go.
So we've had some of that as well.
So if a deal doesn't work out,
does Bill Gates call you up and say, you know,
I thought you were very smart
and how come this didn't work out?
No, no, he tends not to do that.
I think he knows like a lot of them won't work out.
In fact, he's kind of just the opposite.
He's sort of looking and wondering
if everything is working out,
are you taking big enough risks?
So it's in that direction versus
if something doesn't work out, you're disappointed.
