Bloomberg commits about $590 million to oceans, clean energy and cleaner city air

In the space of a few days in late June 2026, Michael Bloomberg's foundation announced roughly $590 million in new environmental commitments, timed to London Climate Action Week. The New York Times, in a report by David Gelles, noted that the pledges came as several other wealthy donors were scaling back their climate giving.

The largest piece, about $285 million, was unveiled in London on 22 June by Bloomberg in his role as the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions. It is aimed at the countries where electricity demand is growing fastest but where solar and wind are still held back by weak grids, unclear rules, scarce finance and a shortage of technical expertise. The money will support national clean energy industry associations and regional networks, provide technical assistance to governments and regulators, and fund research on delivering reliable and affordable power. The targeted countries together account for close to 70 percent of global power-sector emissions, and the goal is for wind and solar to supply more than half of their electricity by 2030. Pakistan's minister of state for climate change welcomed the plan, according to Dawn.

A second commitment of $260 million, announced at the Earthshot Prize Impact Assembly in London, expands the Bloomberg Ocean Initiative. Bloomberg Philanthropies, a founding partner of the Earthshot Prize, said the new phase will focus on turning national promises into real protection as countries work toward safeguarding 30 percent of the ocean by 2030, including on the high seas. Since 2014 the initiative has supported hundreds of national ocean policies, coral reef protections and data tools that make fishing and other activity at sea more transparent. A further amount of around $45 million is going to Breathe Cities, a clean-air programme run with the Clean Air Fund and C40 Cities.

Bloomberg, who grew up in a Jewish family in Medford, Massachusetts, founded the financial data company that bears his name and served three terms as mayor of New York. His foundation has become one of the largest private funders of climate action in the world.