DIGIVESTASI - Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and veteran philanthropist, has revealed new facts about the factors that will bring about the "end of the world" on Earth. Gates also mentioned Indonesia in his latest blog. He revealed the fact that 51 billion tons of greenhouse gases are produced annually due to activities on Earth. Up to 7% comes from the production of animal- and vegetable-derived fats and oils. 

"To fight climate change, we must set this number to zero," he said on Monday (February 19, 2024), quoting from his personal blog. Furthermore, Gates realizes that the plan to eliminate the consumption of animal fats by humans is unrealistic. This is because humans depend on animal fats for logical reasons. 

Animal fats store the nutrients and calories that humans need. But there is a way to extract fat without creating exhaust fumes, torturing animals, or producing harmful chemicals. Gates said the solution was found by a startup called Sabre. Gates is also one of its investors. 

Rasa produces fat through a process that uses carbon dioxide from the air and hydrogen from water. The compound is then heated and oxidized to separate the acidic components and produce a fat formulation. Gates claims that the resulting fat has molecules similar to milk, cheese, beef, and vegetable oils.

The palm oil issue between Indonesia and Malaysia 
In addition to the production of animal fats that damage the environment, Gates also highlighted a factor that has a greater impact: palm oil. "Today, palm oil is the most widely consumed vegetable fat worldwide. Some palm oil is used in everyday foods such as cakes, instant noodles, coffee creamers, frozen foods, even in cosmetics and soaps, toothpastes, detergents, deodorants, etc. It is also found in cat food, baby food, baby food and baby food. Also found in cat food, baby food, etc. Used in biofuels and diesel engines," he said. 

Gates emphasized that the problem with palm oil is not how it is used, but how it is produced. Most oil palm species native to West and Central Africa do not grow in many regions. They only grow well near the equator. "This leads to deforestation and turning equatorial regions into oil palm lands," Gates said.

This process negatively impacts natural diversity and has serious implications for climate change. Forest fires cause large amounts of emissions into the atmosphere, leading to rising temperatures. "The devastation in 2018 was particularly severe in Malaysia and Indonesia alone, which account for 1.4% of global emissions. This is larger than the entire state of California and roughly the size of the global aviation industry," Gates said.

Unfortunately, Gates admits that the role of palm oil will be difficult to replace. This is because palm oil is cheap, odorless, and abundant. "Palm oil is also the only vegetable oil that has roughly the same ratio of saturated to unsaturated fats, which is why it is so versatile. When animal fat is an important ingredient in some foods, palm oil is a contributing team player," Gates explained, "Production of almost all food and non-food products has increased." 

For this reason, Gates said some companies are already trying to address it. One of them is C16 Biosciences, which is trying to develop alternatives to palm oil.  Since 2017, C16 has been developing products from wild yeast microorganisms using a zero-emission fermentation process, Gates said. 

Although chemically different from traditional palm oil, C16 oil contains the same fatty acids and can be used for similar purposes. "It is as natural as palm oil and only grows on fungi, not trees. Like Savor, the C16 process is completely farm-free. The 'farm' is a research lab in midtown Manhattan," Gates said.

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