While donations for the restoration of the Notre Dame cathedral approached tens of billions of dollars in just a couple of days, many have condemned the lack of similar major donations from the rich in response to the emergency of climate change.
Cue former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has just demonstrated that such massive donations towards climate action are actually possible. The billionaire has pledged to contribute $500 million towards lobby aimed at closing all coal-fired power plants across the United States by the year 2030.
The billionaire is also working to stop the construction of new gas plants, claiming that by the time they are built, renewables will take over. The push to end the use of both natural gas and coal is the reason he’s named his initiative “Beyond Carbon”, with the investment plunged into this initiative represent the largest ever philanthropic effort to combat climate change.
