Bloomberg: I'll Pay for US Share of Paris Climate Deal

'America made a commitment,' he says
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 23, 2018 3:49 AM CDT
Bloomberg Will Pay $4.5M for US Climate Deal Commitment
Michael Bloomberg addresses the media at the One Planet Summit, in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, France, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017.   (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

President Trump says he wants to pull the US out of the Paris climate accord—but another billionaire says he is going to pay some of what the US would have contributed to the pact anyway. Michael Bloomberg, who promised last year that cities, states, and businesses are "going to do everything America would have done if it had stayed committed," said Sunday that he is going to donate $4.5 million to cover this year's American contribution to the agreement, the BBC reports. The former New York City mayor, also a former Republican, said earlier this year that he hopes Trump will change his mind on the global agreement to tackle climate change.

"America made a commitment and as an American, if the government's not going to do it, we all have responsibility. I'm able to do it," Bloomberg said on CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday. "So, yes, I'm going to send them a check for the monies that America had promised to the organization as though they got it from the federal government," said Bloomberg. He added: "If everybody would do the right thing, yes, it would be better. But if some people or some countries do the right thing we all benefit from that." If Trump follows through with his pledge to formally leave the accord, the US will be the world's only holdout: Syria signed the deal in November. (More Michael Bloomberg stories.)

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