United Nations member states are expected today (Sept. 25) to adopt a set of 17 goals for ending poverty, fighting inequality, and tackling climate change by 2030. That follows a similar exercise in 2000 that established goals for 2015—an effort that is generally credited with yielding serious gains in areas such as child mortality and access to clean water by helping focus aid and government attention.

Bill Gates has been outspoken about why people should be paying more attention to the goals—known as the sustainable development goals (SDGs)—being adopted today. In recent pieces he wrote for Quartz related to the topic, Gates explained how 34 million lives could be saved over the next 15 years by tackling just three health issues, argued for extending the fight against child mortality, and cautioned against reducing foreign aid to the booming economies that are still home to many of the world’s poorest people.

Quartz caught up with Gates this week to talk about why he believes the development goals are so important, how he assesses their renewable energy targets, and what needs to be done about the current Europe refugee crisis. What follows is a transcript, lightly edited for clarity.