As Bloomberg Pledges to Help Keep U.N. Climate Process Running, Private Money Can’t Fill All of Trump’s Gaps

“From 2017 to 2020, during a period of federal inaction, cities, states, businesses, and the public rose to the challenge to uphold our nation’s commitments—and now, we are ready to do it again,” said Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, presidential candidate, and current UN Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, in a press release. “[P]hilanthropy’s role in driving local, state, and private sector action is more crucial than ever—and we’re committed to leading the way.”

The U.S. has generally provided a bit over 20 percent of the UNFCCC’s operating budget, which is just under $100 million for the next year. While a big number, that’s manageable from the private sector. Elsewhere on the Trump Administration’s chopping block, things are different: though the end result is unclear at this point, news broke yesterday that scientific agencies including the National Institutes of Health may be in serious trouble.

Communications from the agencies have been halted, and meetings including the NIH study groups that decide on tens of billions in biomedical research funding are up in the air. This is quite literally an impossible gap to fill; NIH is the primary means of funding things like cancer research in the U.S., and while plenty of work goes on at pharmaceutical companies that’s not exactly the industry one would like directing all of the medical inquiry in the country.

An administration so opposed to science in basically all its forms is going to be catastrophic. Even the most well-meaning of non-profits, foundations, and private individuals can’t replicate what a functional federal government does; it’s just a matter of waiting to see where the hammer lands hardest.