Michael Bloomberg Is Pumping Millions Into The UN’s Climate Arm After Trump Cut It Off

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is donating $5.5 million to the United Nations to help meet the goals of the Paris Climate Accord, Bloomberg’s charity Bloomberg Philanthropies announced Monday.

Bloomberg, a former three-term mayor of New York City, began donating to the U.N. climate change department after President Donald Trump began pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement in June 2017.

Bloomberg, the U.N. Secretary-General’s special envoy for climate action, has now taken the place of the U.S. federal government in donating to the U.N.’s climate agenda for two years.

“The United States made a promise to meet the goals outlined in the Paris Agreement – and if the federal government won’t hold up our end of the deal, then the American people must,” Bloomberg said in a statement.

“As mayors, governors, business leaders, and private citizens across the country work to ensure that we meet our climate targets, our foundation will again cover the difference in federal funding to the United Nations,” Bloomberg continued. “Together, we’re sending a loud, clear message to the rest of the world: regardless of what’s happening in Washington, we’re in this fight with you.”

Trump announced he was pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord roughly a year after former President Barack Obama signed onto the international agreement. Trump said that, despite the agreement’s stated goals, its practical effects put the U.S. at a disadvantage relative to other countries.

Under the Paris accord as agreed to by Obama, the U.S. would cut its emissions by 26 to 28 percent under 2005 levels by 2025. China pledged to curb emissions growth by 2030, allowing the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide to increase emissions for more than a decade. India, the world’s third largest emitter of carbon dioxide, did not pledge to any cuts.