UN chief reappoints billionaire Bloomberg as climate envoy

FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018 file photo, Michael Bloomberg, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Climate Action, speaks during the plenary session of the Global Action Climate Summit, in San Francisco. The United Nations says American billionaire Michael Bloomberg has been reappointed as a special envoy to engage governments and businesses in tackling the threat of global warming. Bloomberg was first tapped for the position in 2018. The U.N. said Friday, Feb. 5, 2021 that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wants the former New York City mayor to mobilize stronger and more ambitious climate action in the lead-up to a global climate summit in November. The summit was delayed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File) (Eric Risberg, Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

BERLIN – The United Nations says American billionaire Michael Bloomberg has been reappointed as a special envoy to engage governments and businesses in tackling the threat of global warming.

Bloomberg, who has long campaigned on the issue of climate change, was first tapped for the position in 2018.

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The U.N. said Friday that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wants the former New York mayor to “mobilize stronger and more ambitious climate action” in the lead-up to a November global climate summit.

The summit, delayed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, is seen as a key moment in the international effort to curb man-made climate change six years after the creation of the Paris accord.

The2015 treaty commits countries to cutting their greenhouse gas emissions so temperatures don't rise more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F), ideally 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 F), by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial times.

Guterres has called on leaders to put their economies on a path to stop adding further planet-warming gases to the atmosphere by 2050.

Bloomberg “will engage government officials and members of the private sector and civil society to finalize and implement plans, particularly in high-emitting countries, industries and sectors, to vastly accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy,” the U.N. said.