Billionaire Bill Gates and several other former Microsoft employees have poured nearly $2 million into an effort to defend Washington state’s new carbon market, according to campaign finance records released Wednesday.
Gates, retired founder of Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, gave $1 million to the “No on 2117” campaign. It seeks to defeat a November ballot measure that will ask voters if they want to void the state’s climate law, which launched its new cap-and-invest system last year.
“Bill Gates is committed to finding and funding climate solutions and the Climate Commitment Act is an important way to reduce emissions while spurring innovation, creating jobs, and improving energy security,” a Gates spokesperson said in an email, referring to the state climate law.
Billionaire and GOP megadonor Brian Heywood spent $7 million dollars to get the signatures needed to put the initiative on the ballot. One motivation, he said, were higher gas prices.
