Climate Group Funded by Bill Gates Slashes Staff in Major Retreat

Breakthrough Energy, an umbrella organization funded by Bill Gates that works on a sprawling range of climate issues, announced deep cuts to its operations in an internal memo on Tuesday.Dozens of staff were cut, including Breakthrough Energy’s unit in Europe, its team in the United States working on public policy issues and most of its employees working on partnerships with other climate organizations, according to three people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly.The change shows how Mr.Gates is retooling his empire for the Trump era.

With Republicans controlling both houses of Congress and the White House, Mr.Gates calculated that the Breakthrough policy team in the United States was not likely to have a significant effect in Washington, said the people familiar with his thinking.

The U.S.policy team was also one of the largest and most expensive parts of the organization.“Bill Gates remains as committed as ever to advancing the clean energy innovations needed to address climate change,” a spokeswoman for Mr.

Gates said in a statement when asked about the cuts.“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.”Mr.

Gates, a co-founder of Microsoft and one of the richest men in the world, has poured billions of dollars from his own fortune into efforts to combat climate change.With books, public appearances and a high-profile campaign to support clean energy entrepreneurs over the past decade, he has established himself as one of the leading voices pushing businesses and government to address the threats of a rapidly warming world.Winding down much of the Breakthrough Energy team’s work is a sharp reversal for Mr.

Gates and reflects a rapidly-shifting landscape in politics, philanthropy, climate change and global development.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your bro...