Bill Gates thinks climate change is a serious problem but he thinks scientific innovation will curb it. In a memo released Tuesday, Gates argues for a strategic pivot in the global climate fight. He says rather than focusing on cutting the emissions causing warming, the primary goal should be to prevent suffering by fighting poverty and preventing disease, particularly for those in the world’s poorest countries. He says improving lives should count more than metrics on temperature change and emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere and warm the planet. He wrote the memo in hopes of having an impact on next month’s United Nations climate change conference in Brazil.