2019 U.N. Special Envoy for Climate Action Michael Bloomberg Answers Secretary General António Guterres’ Call to End New Coal by 2020
Bloomberg Philanthropies Accelerates Its Global Coal Program to Move the World Toward a Coal-Free Future
Originally posted on bloomberg.org
September 24, 2019 /3BL Media/ – At the 2019 United Nations Climate Action Summit, United Nations Special Envoy for Climate Action Michael R. Bloomberg announced his support for U.N. Secretary General António Guterres’ initiative to stop the development of new coal-fired power plants after 2020.
Bloomberg’s announcement comes as a global coalition of government, business, science and community leaders reaffirms the necessity of phasing out fossil fuel use. The science is clear: without drastically decreasing the world’s dependence on coal, humanity will be unable to stop the warming of the planet before it reaches 1.5 degrees Celsius, the benchmark for the point of no return from global crisis.
“Ending coal use would be an enormous step forward in the fight against climate change and a huge victory for public health. We’re making progress – including in the U.S., where our foundation and the Sierra Club have teamed up to close more than half of all coal plants, and in Europe, where we’ve helped close some of the continent’s most polluting coal plants and encouraged more countries to commit to phasing out coal completely,” said Bloomberg. “We have to move faster, and we have a lot of work ahead of us – but there’s nothing we can’t achieve if all sectors of society work together. The Secretary-General has been a forceful advocate for ending coal use, and our foundation is glad to be working together with him and his team to reach that goal.”
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