Michael Bloomberg has long been a global leader in the fight against climate change. As three-term mayor of New York City, he implemented a groundbreaking strategic sustainability plan and reduced carbon emissions by 13 percent, positioning the city as a model for climate action around the world. His foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, focuses on the environment as one of its key program areas, and he has given more than $1 billion to the global climate fight. Mr. Bloomberg serves as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Climate Ambition and Solutions. He is also Global Advisor to the Winners of The Earthshot Prize, the global environmental prize launched by Prince William and The Royal Foundation to highlight solutions that can help repair our planet.
Mr. Bloomberg leads a number of efforts that are making progress in the global climate fight. He serves as president of the board of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and co-chairs the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy and the America Is All In coalition. He also created the American Cities Climate Challenge to help the largest U.S. cities make more progress reducing carbon emissions in support of the Paris Agreement goals.
Through the U.S. Beyond Coal campaign, Mr. Bloomberg has worked with environmental organizations to retire more than 65 percent of all U.S. coal plants since 2011 — and in 2017, he expanded the effort to Europe, where Europe Beyond Coal has retired 50 percent of the continent’s plants. Building on this progress, he also launched Beyond Carbon, the largest-ever coordinated campaign to take on the climate crisis in the U.S., which aims to retire all domestic coal plants by 2030 and stop the construction of new gas plants.
Mr. Bloomberg has been instrumental in involving the financial community in the fight against climate change. He serves as chair of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, which develops recommendations to help companies disclose information on the climate-related risks and opportunities they face. At the UN Secretary-General’s request, he formed the Climate Finance Leadership Initiative with other influential private-sector leaders to accelerate investments in climate solutions.
Mr. Bloomberg also collaborates with partners and countries around the world to protect marine ecosystems and preserve coral reefs.
He is co-author, with Carl Pope, of the New York Times bestseller Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can Save the Planet.
