Bloomberg Pledges to Pay US Share of Paris Climate Contributions

Bloomberg, the billionaire and the former mayor of the New York City, has pledged to pay the $15 million US share of Paris Climate contributions, despite Trump's announcement that the US is going to pull away from the Paris Climate Accord.

The money is going to be raised by Bloomberg Philanthropies, with help from an undisclosed number of other actors.

"Americans are not walking away from the Paris Climate Agreement," Michael Bloomberg said in a statement published on his charity's website… "Just the opposite — we are forging ahead."

"The US will meet our Paris commitment and through a partnership among American cities, states, and businesses, we will seek to remain part of the Paris Agreement process," he added, according to the Telegraph.

Bloomberg, whose net worth is estimated as $50 billion, is said to be the USA's eighth richest man. However, he seems to associate himself with the American people, to the degree that apparently he can speak in their name.

"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," he said.

The announcement comes in the wake of Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord, which he says will put the US at a "permanent disadvantage" with China, India and other developing countries. Ironically, the withdrawal from the accord puts the US in the same camp with the only two other countries who refused to take part in the deal: Nicaragua and Syria.

Patricia Espinosa, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) accepted Bloomberg's with readiness.

"While funding from governments remains central to our work, this kind of support is crucial for the work of the Secretariat to assist nations in their efforts to implement their commitments under the Paris Climate Change Agreement," Espinosa said in a statement.

Just a bit earlier, the US Conference of Mayors, a group of more than 1,000 mayors, officially denounced the President's decision and said they are committed to meet the US climate payment goals without the federal government. Unlike Bloomberg Philanthropies, which is a private enterprise, the mayors are likely to use the taxpayers' money.

"We see the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord as an abdication of American leadership and America's mayors will certainly fill that void," Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said in a statement, according to the Washington Post. "We will symbolically sign on and take actions necessary so that America meets its obligations under the Paris Accord, despite actions of this Administration."

Trump announced that the US is going to cease all involvement in current climate change fighting, include the Green Climate Fund, whom the US already paid $1 billion. However, the US pledge $2 billion to the fund before Trump took office. It is unknown whether Bloomberg is going to pay that contribution, too.