Bloomberg Pledges $15 Million To Climate Efforts After Paris Accords Withdrawal

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By JTA June 2, 2017

NEW YORK (JTA) — Following the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris climate accords, Michael Bloomberg has pledged $15 million to the United Nations’ efforts against climate change.

The media mogul and former New York City mayor is also coordinating a group of American governors, mayors, universities and businesses that remain committed to fulfilling the United States’ obligations under the deal.

Bloomberg announced the donation Thursday following President Trump’s announcement of the U.S. withdrawal from the landmark 2015 agreement to fight climate change, signed by every country except Syria and Nicaragua. Trump said the U.S.’s obligations under the accord hurt American business, and that it is “very unfair at the highest level to the United States.”

Bloomberg’s donation will make up for the U.S.’s contribution to the U.N.’s Climate Secretariat, which aids countries in implementing the agreement. Bloomberg — who is the world’s 10th-richest person — serves as the U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change, and he has long advocated aggressive climate measures.

“Americans are not walking away from the Paris Climate Agreement,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “Americans will honor and fulfill the Paris Agreement by leading from the bottom up – and there isn’t anything Washington can do to stop us.”

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