Bill Gates is mistaken about divestment in fossil fuels - he is not numeric enough about the paradigm shifting impact.

Climate Change Dispatch quoted Mr. Gates as saying, “I don’t know the mechanism of action where divestment [keeps] emissions [from] going up every year. I’m just too damn numeric.” Actually, Mr. Gates was not numeric enough about the paradigm shifting impact.

MacArthur Fellowship winner Donella Meadows argues that shifting the paradigm may well be the most effective way to intervene in a system.

Mr. Gates failed to quantify divestment's paradigm shifting impact. To change our system, we need to change its driving paradigm. Divestment changes the paradigm by signalling social values, goals, and rules. We vote with our dollars. We put our money where our mouth is. We use phrases like "socially responsible investing."