Michael Bloomberg Pledges £400m+ Climate Action for London Climate Action Week 2026
A billionaire financier and former New York mayor is betting that London, not Washington, is where the climate economy will pay off, making more than £400m as he positions the capital as a magnet for investment and jobs.
Michael Bloomberg, an American financial services billionaire and media mogul, is backing London to reap a wave of investment and jobs after the development of anti-climate measures.
The former New York mayor and green campaigner, who is worth an estimated $109bn (£82bn), will this week unveil more than £400m of funding for climate change organizations during a visit to the capital, timed to coincide with London Climate Action Week, now Europe’s biggest climate event.
“Businessmen and investors recognize that measures to combat climate change also stimulate economic growth and create jobs,” he is expected to tell the audience in the City of London. “As an international financial center and an engine of private innovation, London has a very important role to play.”
Bloomberg, known around the world for the data centers that bear his name, is in the UK as a special envoy of the UN on Climate Ambition and Solutions, holding and promoting a series of events alongside his long-time green partner Prince William and the secretary general of the United Nations, António Guterres. According to Bloomberg Philanthropies, Guterres will use one of the last major climate speeches of his time to address the global energy crisis at the Guildhall, before the Earthshot Prize Impact Assembly and the Local Climate Action Summit called by C40 Cities.
The 84-year-old, who considers London his second home and recently joined Berkshire’s Sunningdale Golf Club, plans: “London has helped lead the way in bold action to reduce pollution and pollution. People want to live in cities with clean air and, where people want to live, businesses want to invest.”
Over the course of the week, Bloomberg will donate $590m (£446m) in new funding to climate businesses, charities and initiatives, with the majority expected to go to UK businesses and organisations. It’s a timely message for British companies, coming as the government’s Seventh Carbon Budget strengthens the £105bn economy that already supports tens of thousands of small and medium-sized businesses.
Bloomberg Philanthropies has previously raised money for UK climate groups including the Prince William-fronted Earthshot Prize, C40 Cities, Kew Gardens, Clean Air Fund, Global Fishing Watch and Blue Ventures.
The renewed devotion is surprising for its time. It comes as many other American investors and companies, taking over from President Trump, are withdrawing from climate plans, with a host of household names from luxury to bailing out banks or delaying their zero pledges. For UK companies weighing whether change is still worth the capital, the argument that London should not move to net zero rarely has a deeper champion.
In the City, the calculations made by Bloomberg are simple: in an era of globalization, money, talent and jobs will reach places that keep faith in the green economy. You bet the place is in London.
