Accelerating the Global Clean Energy Transition

Beginning in 2017 with the launch of the Europe Beyond Coal campaign, Bloomberg Philanthropies has worked to end coal and accelerate clean energy investment globally. In Europe, this work has retired more than 52% of the continent’s coal plants. Similar campaigns have secured the early retirement of one-third of Australia’s plants and one-third of South Korea’s plants, and canceled more than half of Japan’s planned plants. We have also supported additional research, advocacy, and technical assistance in China, India, and Indonesia to help lay out a path for the clean energy transition. In 2022, we expanded this work to 25 developing countries across Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America with the greatest threat of new coal and the greatest potential for clean energy development.

Bloomberg Philanthropies also leads and supports a wide array of efforts to mobilize the private sector in the global climate fight. Mike chairs the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), which shares guidelines to help companies quantify and disclose risks posed by climate change, bringing greater transparency to the financial impacts of the climate crisis. He also co-chairs the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) with Bloomberg Philanthropies board member Mark Carney, which helps financial institutions and other private-sector organizations commit to reaching net-zero emissions, create credible and science-based transition plans, and invest in the global transition to clean energy.

Convening Global Leaders to Accelerate Action on Climate Change

Throughout 2022, Bloomberg Philanthropies brought together world leaders, mayors, experts, and climate advocates on critical environmental issues

In September, we co-hosted the Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit with The Earthshot Prize to highlight groundbreaking climate innovations and solutions.

In October, at the 2022 C40 World Mayors Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the C40 Cities Bloomberg Philanthropies Awards recognized the 10 most ambitious, impactful, and replicable global climate projects in cities. The winning cities are cleaning the air, improving waste management, expanding green spaces and bus lanes, and much more.

In November, we served as an official partner for the UN’s COP27 climate summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, where we made a series of major announcements to expand our work on the clean energy transition in developing countries, bring data and transparency to private sector climate commitments, and build new public-private partnerships. In the 45 days leading up to the summit, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Bloomberg L.P., and our partners also took more than 90 actions to support the UN’s climate agenda.

Accelerating the Transition to Clean Energy

Beyond Carbon

Launched in 2019, Beyond Carbon builds on the success of the U.S. Beyond Coal campaign, led by the Sierra Club and backed by Bloomberg Philanthropies, that has helped retire more than two-thirds of all U.S. coal plants in just a decade. Beyond Carbon is working to retire all U.S. coal plants by 2030, stop the construction of proposed gas plants, and – through Mike’s personal political support – help win elections and policy changes at the state and local levels. It is the largest coordinated campaign to fight climate change in U.S. history.

In addition to retiring the majority of U.S. coal plants, these efforts have helped pass key laws in states across the country. Fifteen states, as well as Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., now have laws putting them on the path to reaching 100 percent clean energy or achieving net zero emissions. The campaign has also blocked 30 gigawatts of planned gas capacity from being constructed.

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Global Campaign to End Coal

In 2017, Bloomberg Philanthropies launched the grassroots Europe Beyond Coal campaign to close coal plants and drive the transition to clean energy across the continent, building on the success of U.S. Beyond Coal. The campaign has since helped retire more than half of Europe’s coal plants, and 23 European countries have now committed to a complete coal phase-out. The effort led to the launch of similar campaigns in Australia, Japan, and South Korea. Bloomberg Philanthropies also supports efforts to move from coal to clean energy in China, India, and Indonesia.

At COP26, Mike Bloomberg announced a major expansion of this work in 25 low- and middle-income countries where coal power is projected to grow rapidly. The expansion will work to close a quarter of the world’s 2,445 remaining coal plants and block all 519 proposed plants by 2025. With the Powering Past Coal Alliance, Bloomberg Philanthropies also launched the Bloomberg Global Coal Countdown, a comprehensive online resource tracking the status of every global plant.

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Accelerating Local Climate Action with Mike’s Leadership

America Is All In

America Is All In is the most expansive coalition of leaders ever assembled in support of U.S. climate action, including thousands of cities, states, tribal nations, businesses, and other organizations. Mike Bloomberg serves as co-chair. In October 2021, the coalition released a comprehensive roadmap for the United States to draw on critical contributions from local leaders and achieve its new national climate target: reducing emissions by 50 percent by 2030 – which the coalition successfully helped advocate for the Biden administration to announce. The report, Blueprint 2030, lays out specific policies and actions that can help the country reach its Paris Agreement goals.

Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy

The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy is a network of more than 11,000 cities and local governments that works to create ambitious, measurable targets to reduce and limit greenhouse gas emissions. Mike serves as co-chair with Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice President of the European Commission. At COP26, the Global Covenant was awarded the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity, in recognition of its outstanding efforts to enhance and support city climate action around the world. The €1 million prize will advance two critical infrastructure projects in Sub-Saharan Africa to help mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group

The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group is a global network of nearly 100 major cities whose mayors have committed to cutting emissions and becoming more resilient to the effects of climate change. Mike serves as board president. In 2021, C40 continued releasing critical data on the power and importance of city climate action. Fifteen cities joined C40’s Renewable Energy Declaration to prioritize clean energy systems for residents. The network also rallied more than 1,000 cities to join the Race to Zero campaign with commitments to reach net zero emissions by 2050. London Mayor Sadiq Khan was recently named C40 chair, taking over from the outgoing chair, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.

American Cities Climate Challenge

Bloomberg Philanthropies launched the American Cities Climate Challenge to help 25 major U.S. cities develop and implement effective climate policies. Focused on reducing emissions from buildings and transportation, the two largest sources of emissions in most cities, the program provides powerful resources and support, including embedded staff, technical assistance, and implementation expertise. After their participation in the program, including launching 76 new climate programs and passing 60 major buildings, energy, and transportation policies, the 25 cities are projected to reduce their carbon emissions by 83 million metric tons through 2030. Collectively, they are expected to cut emissions by 32 percent by 2025, surpassing the Paris Agreement goals.

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