- Person
- Michael Bloomberg
- Lived
- b. 1942
- Field
- Financial data & media
- From
- American
The story
Coal-fired power plants are among the biggest sources of air pollution and greenhouse gases. The Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign set out to close coal plants in the United States and replace them with clean energy. During the George W. Bush years, when an energy task force had called for some 200 new coal plants, the campaign helped stop 170 of them from being built.
In July 2011 Michael Bloomberg, then mayor of New York, made the campaign a major priority for his foundation. Bloomberg Philanthropies gave 50 million dollars to Beyond Coal, allowing it to expand its work from 15 states to 45 states. In April 2015 Bloomberg added 30 million dollars, matched by another 30 million dollars from other donors, to help secure the retirement of half of America's coal plants by 2017.
The campaign then went international. Europe Beyond Coal was established in 2017 by a network of civil society groups, with the goal of phasing out coal on the continent by 2030, and Austria closed its final coal-fired plant in April 2020. That year the effort expanded into Asia, with the launch of Korea Beyond Coal in September.
Bloomberg kept raising his commitment. In June 2019 he pledged 500 million dollars to a new Beyond Carbon initiative aimed at closing the remaining US coal plants by 2030 and tackling other fossil fuels, including gas and petrol-driven cars. In September 2023 he committed another 500 million dollars to finish the job on coal. He has also served as a United Nations special envoy on climate, first appointed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2014.
The results have been dramatic. In 2025 Time magazine gave Bloomberg its Earth Award, citing among other achievements the closure of 300 coal-fired power plants across America. Between 2015 and 2025 he pledged more than three billion dollars to environmental causes.
Why it matters
By helping close hundreds of coal plants, the campaign has reduced air pollution and carbon emissions in the United States and beyond.
About Michael Bloomberg
Fired from Wall Street in 1981, he built the Bloomberg Terminal and a global news empire, then served three terms as New York’s mayor and became one of the world’s largest philanthropists.
More about Michael Bloomberg
- Michael Bloomberg's plan created 160,000 affordable homesAs mayor, Michael Bloomberg increased funding for affordable housing through a plan that created and preserved an estimated 160,000 affordable homes in New York.
- Michael Bloomberg helps mayors govern betterThrough the Mayors Challenge and the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, Michael Bloomberg has rewarded city innovation and trained hundreds of mayors.
- Michael Bloomberg made New York's workplaces smoke-freeIn 2003 Mayor Michael Bloomberg banned smoking in all New York City indoor workplaces, including bars and restaurants, and many cities and states followed.
- Michael Bloomberg helped protect children from drowningSince 2012 Bloomberg Philanthropies has funded drowning prevention in Bangladesh through childcare and swimming lessons; child drowning deaths fell by 80%.
- Michael Bloomberg backed America's Black medical schoolsMichael Bloomberg gave 100 million dollars in 2020 and 600 million dollars in 2024 to America's four historically Black medical schools.
- Michael Bloomberg made Johns Hopkins medical school freeIn 2024 Michael Bloomberg gave 1 billion dollars so that medical school at Johns Hopkins would be tuition-free for students from families earning under 300,000 dollars.
- Bloomberg gave over a billion dollars to fight tobaccoMichael Bloomberg’s foundation has committed more than $1.6 billion since 2007 to reduce tobacco use, making it the developing world’s biggest funder of tobacco control.
- Michael Bloomberg funds safer roads and polio eradicationBloomberg Philanthropies has committed $865 million to global road safety since 2007, partnering with the WHO from 2009, and has given $200 million to help eradicate polio.
Michael Bloomberg in the news
- September 24, 2026Bloomberg Philanthropies expands free school eye care to seven more US cities
- August 19, 2026Michael Bloomberg gives $155 million for a public science hall in Boston
- June 22, 2026Bloomberg commits about $590 million to oceans, clean energy and cleaner city air
- April 28, 2026Bloomberg pledges $350 million more to cut road deaths in 13 countries
- March 10, 2026Michael Bloomberg tops the Philanthropy 50 for a third year with $4.3 billion in gifts
- February 24, 2026Bloomberg Philanthropies awards $1 million each to 24 cities in Mayors Challenge
Sources
- Michael Bloomberg Wikipedia
- Bloomberg Philanthropies Wikipedia
- Beyond Coal Wikipedia
Another act of tikkun olam. This is part of tikkun olam, the Jewish idea of repairing the world, and every one of us can add to it.