The UN climate change body will receive funding from the foundation of billionaire Michael Bloomberg after President Donald Trump declared the United States would withdraw from the Paris Agreement for the second time.
In an announcement on Thursday, Bloomberg said the intervention aims to ensure the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) remains fully funded despite the US halting its contributions.
“From 2017 to 2020, during a period of federal inaction, cities, states, businesses, and the public rose to the challenge to uphold our nation’s commitments – and now, we are ready to do it again,” Bloomberg, who serves as the UN Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, said in a statement.
The US typically provides 22 percent of the UNFCCC secretariat’s budget, with the body’s operating costs for 2024-2025 projected at an estimated $96.5m.
After taking oath on Monday, Trump signed one of his first executive orders withdrawing the US from the climate deal and ending all of the country’s international climate financial commitments.
Simon Stiell, the UNFCCC’s executive secretary, framed Trump’s decision as a lost opportunity for US clean energy business, saying it only sends “all the vast wealth to competitor economies” while making climate-related disasters worse.
European Commissioner for Climate Wopke Hoekstra described Trump’s withdrawal as “a truly unfortunate development” for the US and the rest of the world.
Bloomberg’s decision to step in marks the second time he did so to fill the gap left by US federal disengagement.
In 2017, following the Trump administration’s first withdrawal from the Paris accord, Bloomberg pledged up to $15m to support the UNFCCC.
He also launched “America’s Pledge”, an initiative to track and report US non-federal climate commitments, ensuring the world could monitor US progress as if it were still a fully committed party to the Paris Agreement.
Bloomberg had sought the Democratic nomination for US president in 2019 but ended his campaign four months later.
