Bloomberg says he plans to spend another $500 million to 'finish the job on coal' by going after power plants

Photo by Albert Hyseni, Unsplash

In a bid to hasten the end of the U.S. coal mining, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said he will pump $500 million into "the next phase of his energy transition campaign, aiming to shut down 'every last' coal plant in the United States and slash gas-fired capacity in half by 2030," reports Valerie Volcovici of Reuters. The money is intended to bolster Bloomberg's Beyond Carbon initiative and "aims to 'finish the job on coal' by working with state and local organizations to force the closure of the roughly 150 coal plants that have not yet retired, slash current gas generation in half and block the construction of new gas-fired plants."

Bloomberg's decade-long investment into ending coal energy has already topped $500 million through the "Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, which originally aimed to retire 30% of the U.S. coal fleet by 2020," Volcovici writes. "The campaign ended up accelerating the retirement of over 60% of coal plants by that year and putting $85 million toward a similar mission to fight the expansion of petrochemical plants in the U.S."

Bloomberg, who is the U.N. Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, told Reuters: "By working with our partners across the country, we hope to transform the way we power America by moving beyond fossil fuels and replacing them with renewable energy." Volcovici reports, "The money would support litigation brought against utilities and power companies by grassroots groups, state and local policy advocacy and financing to assist local communities with coal plant closures, Bloomberg Philanthropies said."