Bloomberg to Support UN Climate Organization Following Trump’s Reversal on Paris Agreement Exit
The United States has consistently been the primary financial supporter of the organization.
Billionaire and former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg has committed that Bloomberg Philanthropies will bridge the funding shortfall for the United Nations’ climate body in anticipation of budget cuts from the Trump administration.
Founded in 1994, the UNFCCC coordinates annual global climate conferences and monitors the progress of its members toward achieving long-term climate commitments. The organization’s basic budget mainly relies on contributions from member states, with the United States historically contributing the largest share.
Bloomberg Philanthropies, recognized as the largest non-governmental supporter of the UNFCCC, increased its contributions during Trump’s tenure, maintaining the same level of support through the Biden administration.
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“From 2017 to 2020, during a phase of federal inactivity, cities, states, businesses, and the public stepped up to uphold our nation’s commitments—and we are prepared to do so once more,” Bloomberg, who acts as the U.N. secretary-general’s special envoy on climate ambition and solutions, remarked in Thursday’s announcement.
Simon Stiell, the executive secretary of U.N. Climate Change, endorsed the initiative, calling the contributions “essential” in assisting the organization in “supporting countries to meet their obligations under the Paris Agreement and advancing a low-emission, resilient, and safer future for all.”
In the meantime, the Trump administration has reiterated its opposition to the Paris Agreement, which undertakes a commitment among 196 nations to limit the average global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius (or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). In the executive order issued just hours after his inauguration, Trump stated that international climate accords don’t align with American values and “allocate American taxpayer dollars to nations that do not need or deserve financial aid in the interest of the American public.”
Trump’s second withdrawal from the Paris Agreement was accompanied by a series of executive orders, including a declaration of a national energy emergency aimed at enhancing domestic oil and gas production.
“The inflation crisis was driven by excessive spending and rising energy prices, which is why today I will also proclaim a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill,” Trump proclaimed during his inaugural address on January 20.
“America will once again be a manufacturing powerhouse, and we possess something that no other manufacturing nation will ever possess: the largest reserves of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we are going to utilize it.”
Currently, the United States remains a member of the UNFCCC.
