SUMMARYProPublica says Bill Gates has built a $29 billion stake in Republic Services, the No. 2 U.S. landfill operator, and has received $2.6 billion in dividends since 1999. Federal inspectors have repeatedly found methane leaks above limits at Republic landfills, while the company has opposed stricter waste rules. Landfills are a major source of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas linked to near-term warming.
Environmental activist Bill Gates has "quietly accumulated a $29 billion stake in America's No. 2 landfill operator, Republic Services," reports ProPublica, in a new 5,000-word investigation. But inspectors from America's Environmental Protection Agency "have repeatedly found methane - a highly potent greenhouse gas - escaping from Republic landfills at levels above federal limits. Republic has lobbied against regulations that could make the waste industry cleaner, including by keeping organic garbage out of landfills in the first place."
While Gates has invested at least $2 billion in green companies, he's "put more than double that amount into a very dirty, old-school industry," their article argues. And Gates has increased his stake in Republic "to 38% of the company, a position worth $29 billion."
While fossil fuels get most of the attention, scientists increasingly see landfills as a crucial climate issue. They're responsible for as much as a fifth of the country's emissions of methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas, studies show. Republic alone generates as much climate pollution as 3 million gasoline-burning cars each year, according to its own reports....
[Gates] has failed to make Republic live up to his own climate principles, a ProPublica investigation has found. Federal inspectors have repeatedly found methane escaping from Republic landfills at levels above federal limits. The company has refrained from adopting the ambitious emissions-reduction goal embraced by its main competitor... "It seems very likely that Bill Gates has the power to influence Republic's behavior to make it more climate-friendly, even if that costs the company profits," said Ann Lipton, a legal scholar who studies corporate governance at the University of Colorado, Boulder... Gates didn't respond to repeated requests to discuss his landfill investments, and ProPublica couldn't find any public comments he's made about them.
But the bet has proven wildly lucrative. Since November 1999, when he emerged as the owner of 5% of Republic's shares - "It's 'Garbage In' for Gates," the New York Post headline read - the company's stock price has soared thirtyfold. And Gates has personally received $2.6 billion in dividends, a ProPublica analysis of securities filings shows... A rare clue to why Gates made his foray into landfills can be found in an interview he gave to Fortune [in 1999]... To fund his plan to give away virtually his entire fortune, he said he'd given his personal money manager, Michael Larson, a simple remit: Sell Microsoft shares, buy safe, boring assets... After that initial investment, Larson progressively increased Gates' stake in Republic over the years that followed. [On behalf of the Gates Foundation] Larson would also acquire a small chunk of Republic's main competitor, Waste Management.
Methane emissions weren't a major focus of climate activism until years later
The gas can trap 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide in the near term, and it's responsible for one-third of the global warming we experience today, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. But it also breaks down much more quickly, turning into CO2 and water vapor in about a decade - which means that cutting methane emissions now would reduce that warming within our lifetimes. This is especially urgent, scientists say, as the climate approaches tipping points that could doom rainforests, coral reefs and ice sheets.