Bloomberg offers $15M to cover US Paris Accord costs

Led by former NY mayor Mike Bloomberg, almost 1,000 business and government leaders declared Monday their intent to honor the Paris climate accord, days after US President Donald Trump announced a US exit from the 190-plus nation pact.

Simpson adds that there are more than 260 major global corporations - including USA giants Dell, Kellogg Company, PepsiCo and Walmart - that have joined the Science Based Targets initiative, committing to cutting their emissions in line with the latest climate science. To accomplish this goal, the agreement states that countries should strive to reach peak emissions as soon as possible.

The urgency to address climate change will carry on, regardless of what the United States government does, with investors, companies and world leaders sticking to the path of emissions reduction.

Trump's main criticism of the Paris climate agreement is that the USA was allegedly being unfairly singled out. When the U.S. withdraws, it will join Syria and Nicaragua to form a group of three countries not on-board.

Pittsburgh is standing by Paris - and so are 200-plus other US cities. - despite President Donald Trump's announcement last week that he will withdraw the USA from the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change.

Musk, who runs companies that build electric cars and lease solar panels to homeowners, told Trump loud and clear that he'll quit from the President's Advisory Council if the USA doesn't abide by the Paris agreement. However, our initial thoughts are that of extreme disappointment. Global consensus on the need to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions means that nearly every country sees that staying within the Paris Agreement is in its own interest. "It's America against the rest of the world, along with Syria and Nicaragua, the only other countries that haven't signed the Paris deal". Moreover, support for the Paris agreement is hardly limited to the left.

But the Paris accords are an acknowledgment that something must be done about climate change - that some responsibility must be taken by the global community to mitigate humankind's warming of the earth.

Independents are much more pessimistic on these questions, with just over one-quarter (26 per cent) saying that leaving the agreement will help the economy and 33 per cent saying it will create more jobs than it costs. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday said India had signed the agreement not because of greed or fear but because of its ethos, traditional commitment towards protecting the environment.

Even in the United States itself, momentum continues despite Trump's announcement, with 83 mayors across the country honouring the Paris Agreement, including the mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, whose city got special mention in Trump's announcement.

Bloomberg's plan calls for his foundation to work with other groups, from governments to philanthropies, that want to support the U.N.'s climate change agency. The timing and magnitude of the changes are harder to pin down, but we can not stick our heads in the sand and ignore the risks they present, especially when we're already seeing the effects all around us - whether they're measured in rising sea levels or depleting coral reefs. "We are increasing investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency". This can be through both energy and transport policy, for example. "Whether the U.S. stays or not, India will continue to remain in the Paris agreement". And what America wanted, was to stay in the Paris Agreement.