text: It was unclear how, exactly, that submission to the United Nations would take place. Christiana Figueres, a former top United Nations climate official, said there was currently no formal mechanism for entities that were not countries to be full parties to the Paris accord. 
   
   Ms. Figueres, who described the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw as a “vacuous political melodrama,” said the American government was required to continue reporting its emissions to the United Nations because a formal withdrawal would not take place for several years. 
   
   But Ms. Figueres, the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change until last year, said the Bloomberg group’s submission could be included in future reports the United Nations compiled on the progress made by the signatories of the Paris deal. 
   
   There are 195 countries committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions as part of the 2015 agreement. 
   
   Still, producing what Mr. Bloomberg described as a “parallel” pledge would indicate that leadership in the fight against climate change in the United States had shifted from the federal government to lower levels of government, academia and industry. ||||| 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.
target: – "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.