Bloomberg founder and CEO Michael Bloomberg has offered to make up the $15 million in funding that the United Nations stands to lose from U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement. 
 
 Under the historic agreement, the U.S. would have been expected to contribute that amount to the operating budget of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the accord’s coordinating agency. 
 
 “Americans are not walking away from the Paris Climate Agreement,” the billionaire philanthropist and former New York City mayor said on Thursday, according to the Washington Examiner. “Just the opposite — we are forging ahead.” 
 
 Bloomberg believes that “non-state actors” will be able to achieve the United States’ 2025 emissions reduction target without the federal government’s support. 
 
 In a draft letter to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, cited in the New York Times, he wrote: “The bulk of the decisions which drive U.S. climate action in the aggregate are made by cities, states, businesses, and civil society. Collectively, these actors remain committed to the Paris accord.” 
 
 For more about the Paris Climate Agreement, watch Fortune’s video: 
 
 Bloomberg joins a growing chorus of business leaders from various industries who have publicly denounced Trump’s withdrawal from the accord. 
 
 Tesla (tsla) CEO Elon Musk and Disney’s (dis) Bob Iger both left the President’s advisory council in protest, while corporations such as Google (googl) and Shell have criticized the president’s move online. ||||| Image copyright Reuters Image caption Michael Bloomberg says he hopes the US will rejoin the climate agreement 
 
 Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he will pay $4.5m (£3.2m) to cover some of the lapsed US commitment to the Paris climate accord. 
 
 He said he had a responsibility to help improve the environment because of President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the deal. 
 
 The withdrawal was announced last June and sparked international condemnation. 
 
 It will make the US in effect the only country not to be part of the Paris accord. 
 
 The Paris agreement commits the US and 187 other countries to keeping rising global temperatures "well below" 2C above pre-industrial levels. 
 
 As part of the agreement, the US had pledged $3bn to the Green Climate Fund, set up by the UN to help countries deal with the effects of global warming. 
 
 The money promised by Mr Bloomberg does not aim to cover this, but the US contribution to the UN's climate change secretariat. 
 
 "America made a commitment and, as an American, if the government's not going to do it then we all have a responsibility," Mr Bloomberg said on CBS. 
 
 "I'm able to do it. So, yes, I'm going to send them a cheque for the monies that America had promised to the organisation as though they got it from the federal government." 
 
 His charity, Bloomberg Philanthropies, offered $15m to cover a separate climate change shortfall last year. 
 
 It said the money would go to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 
 
 In January, President Trump said the US could "conceivably" return to the deal if it treated America more fairly. 
 
 "It's an agreement that I have no problem with but I had a problem with the agreement that they (the Obama administration) signed," he told reporters. 
 
 Mr Bloomberg said he hoped that by next year Mr Trump will have reconsidered his position on the deal. 
 
 "He's been known to change his mind, that is true," he said. "America is a big part of the solution and we should go in and help the world stop a potential disaster." 
 
 What is in the Paris climate agreement? 
 
 The deal unites all the world's nations in a single agreement on tackling climate change for the first time in history. 
 
 Coming to a consensus among nearly 200 countries on the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions is regarded by many observers as an achievement in itself and has been hailed as "historic". 
 
 As well as the limit on global temperatures, it includes a limit on the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity and a requirement for rich countries to help poorer nations by providing "climate finance". ||||| Former New York City Mayor and philanthropist Michael Bloomberg says he has a responsibility to help the environment as the Trump administration has backed down from its role in the Paris climate agreement. He said on "Face the Nation" he will write a check for $4.5 million this year to fund that mission. 
 
 "America made a commitment and as an American if the government's not going to do it we all have responsibility. I'm able to do it. So, yes, I'm going to send them a check for the monies that America had promised to the organization as though they got it from the federal government," said Bloomberg. 
 
 "It's dangerous to keep doing what we're doing," he said." If everybody would do the right thing, yes, it would be better. But if some people or some countries do the right thing we all benefit from that." 
 
 Last year, the Trump administration formally told the United Nations the U.S. intends to pull out of the Obama-era climate pact. In response, Bloomberg joined members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors opposing the president's withdrawal, vowing to affirm their commitment to meet environmental goals of reducing carbon emissions despite the president's actions. He also announced that his foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, would help coordinate a U.S. effort called "America's Pledge" and submit a societal NDC -- nationally determined contribution -- in lieu of a government one. Last year, he pledged to provide the $15 million that he says the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat will lose from Mr. Trump's withdrawal from the pact. 
 
 But Bloomberg says he's hopeful Mr. Trump could still change his mind despite being a vocal critic of the accord. 
 
 "He's been known to change his mind. That is true. But he should change his mind and say, look there really is a problem here. America is part of the problem. America is a big part of the solution and we should go in and help the world stop a potential disaster." 
 
 The former mayor said keeping up the country's end of the bargain in preserving the environment for future generations is what Americans want to do. 
 
 "We've got companies and states and individuals all agreeing to step in, report to the United Nations what our progress is the way all the other countries are going to do it, commit -- fulfill our commitment to fund part of it. It's not a lot of money. But America made that commitment and most importantly to do the things that will keep temperatures from going up and really potentially changing our life for the worst," he said.
– "Americans are not walking away from the Paris climate agreement," Fortune quotes Michael Bloomberg as saying. On Friday, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced it would commit $15 million to "support the operations" of the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change, which coordinates the Paris climate agreement, CNN reports. The $15 million will cover the US' share of the convention's operating budget. The executive secretary of the Framework Convention on Climate Change calls the money "crucial." On Thursday, after announcing the US was withdrawing from the Paris agreement, President Trump said the money the US had pledged to give the UN for climate matters was a "draconian" burden on the country. Bloomberg says he believes the US can hit its 2025 emissions reduction target laid out in the Paris climate agreement without the help of the federal government. "The bulk of the decisions which drive US climate action in the aggregate are made by cities, states, businesses, and civil society," the New York Times quotes Bloomberg as saying in a letter to the UN secretary-general. Bloomberg says the federal government doesn't determine how the US as a whole acts on climate change. "We're going to do everything America would have done if it had stayed committed," the former New York City mayor with an estimated worth of $50 billion says of group that includes mayors, governors, universities, and businesses.