Bloomberg Philanthropies has announced it will invest an additional $30 million in the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, which aims to secure replacement of half the U.S.' coal fleet by 2017 with clean energy.
This new round of funding builds on a previous commitment of $50 million, raising the Bloomberg Philanthropies' overall investment in the campaign to $80 million.
"The single biggest reduction in carbon pollution in the U.S. has come by retiring and repurposing coal-fired power plants – and that's the direct result of our Beyond Coal Campaign," says Michael R. Bloomberg, head of Bloomberg Philanthropies.
"Thanks to the community leaders who have spearheaded this work, the U.S. led every industrialized nation in reducing carbon emissions last year," he continues. "But much more work remains, and today we are doubling down on what has proven to be an incredibly successful strategy for improving public health and fighting climate change."
With the new round of funding, the Sierra Club says it will continue to use tactics as varied as grassroots advocacy, community organizing, paid advertising, technical research and litigation. The Sierra Club adds it will also continue to push regulators to crack down on harmful pollution and replace dirty power generation capacity with solar, wind and energy efficiency.
