Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said he will spend $500 million on a campaign to close all remaining U.S. coal plants and block the construction of any new natural gas plants.
The $500 million funding for the "Beyond Carbon" campaign announced Wednesday, to which the former New York mayor had already given $500 million, is one of the largest U.S. philanthropic efforts to date related to climate change.
"By working with our partners across the country, we hope to transform the way we power America by moving beyond fossil fuels and replacing them with renewable energy," Bloomberg, who currently serves as the U.N. special envoy on climate ambition and solutions, said Wednesday in New York.
The funds will help Bloomberg’s initiative meet its goal of shutting down “every last” coal plant in the U.S. by 2030, and will fund work with state and local organizations to close the doors of the 150 remaining coal-fired plants in the U.S. It will also be dedicated to cutting natural gas capacity in half and stopping the construction of new plants.
