NEW YORK: The former mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, pledged on Friday to fill a funding gap created by President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, offering up to $15 million to support the UN agency that helps countries implement the agreement.

“Americans will honour and fulfil the Paris Agreement by leading from the bottom up — and there isn’t anything Washington can do to stop us,” said billionaire Bloomberg, who now serves as the United Nations special envoy on cities and climate change.

“Mayors, governors, and business leaders from both political parties are signing [on to] a statement of support that we will submit to the United Nations,” Bloomberg said, “and together, we will reach the emission reduction goals the US made in Paris in 2015.”

Dozens of cities have said they are committed to the Paris climate accord, with at least 86 mayors signing a statement saying they will adopt and uphold the agreement’s goals.

Under the Paris accord, the US sent some $1 billion to the Green Climate Fund that is guided by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change — the body that coordinates international climate policy.

The US was supposed to provide an additional $2 billion, but Trump has balked at that idea, and his proposed budget includes cuts to international climate programmes.

“We are grateful to Bloomberg Philanthropies for this generous contribution,” UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa said in a press release about the funding pledge.

While government funding remains vital, Espinosa said, “this kind of support is crucial for the work of the secretariat to assist nations in their efforts to implement their commitments under the Paris Climate Change Agreement.”

The announcement follows Trump’s decision to pull out of the climate deal that nearly 200 nations agreed to in late 2015.

The architects of the Paris Agreement included Christiana Figueres, who until recently led the UNFCCC.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2017