How expensive is the Paris Climate Accord? Amid all the talk of its economic effects, which Trump used to attempt to justify withdrawing from the voluntary and non-binding agreement where the U.S. can set its own goals, that’s never really come up. But Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York, has decided to step up and pay the price tag to the United Nations that Trump won’t.
That price tag? $15 million. Bloomberg has been working behind the scenes to rally cities, states, and major corporations to stick with the goal. It’s a bizarrely polite form of coup, in a way: Bloomberg is essentially asking the UN to acknowledge a coalition of Americans as involved in the accords, instead of the federal government. Bloomberg is confident that “non-national actors” can pick up the slack where the Trump administration won’t get involved, and stick to the Paris accords.
The UN seems unsure how to take Bloomberg’s gesture, although the New York Times notes that Bloomberg’s cash would mean Americans could collect climate science data and that could be incorporated in reports. And the mayors and governors of America are committing to reducing carbon emissions simply as a matter of survival. It seems that, no matter what the current administration wants, states and cities will be working to reduce carbon.
(via Daily Dot)