Billionaire Bloomberg to fund UN climate body after US withdrawal

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg has announced that his foundation will step in to fund the UN climate change body. This comes after President Donald Trump announced that the United States will withdraw from the Paris Agreement for a second time.
Bloomberg's intervention is intended to ensure that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) remains fully funded even though the United States has stopped its contributions.
The United States typically provides 22 percent of the UNFCCC secretariat's budget, with the body's operating costs for 2024-2025 projected to total $96.5 million.
"From 2017 to 2020, during a period of federal inaction, cities, states, businesses, and the public rose to the challenge of keeping our country's commitments - and now we're ready to do it again," Bloomberg, who serves as the United Nations special envoy for climate ambition and solutions, said in a statement.
This is the second time Bloomberg has stepped in to fill the void left by the U.S. federal withdrawal.
In 2017, following the Trump administration's first withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, Bloomberg pledged up to $15 million in support of the UNFCCC.
He also launched America's Pledge, an initiative to track and report on non-federal U.S. climate commitments, ensuring that the world can monitor U.S. progress as if it were still a fully committed signatory to the Paris Agreement.
Bloomberg reaffirmed its commitment to upholding U.S. reporting obligations this time as well. 
"Contributions like this are vital to enable the UN climate secretariat to support countries in meeting their Paris Agreement commitments and to advance a low-carbon, sustainable and safer future for all," said UN climate chief Simon Steele. | BGNES, AFP