US presidential hopeful Bloomberg to travel to UN climate summit

American presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg will travel to the UN climate summit in Madrid on Tuesday to push for greater action against global warming in the United States, as the country prepares to leave a worldwide agreement to fight warming.

The billionaire, aiming to become the Democratic presidential candidate for next year’s vote, will unveil findings by a research group he funds suggesting that a president who prioritises climate reforms could reduce US emissions by 49 percent by 2030.

This would put the largest historic emitter on track to meet its current obligations under the 2015 Paris accord, irrespective of Donald Trump’s decision to remove the US from the landmark deal.

Bloomberg will appear alongside Hollywood legend Harrison Ford and United Nations officials at the COP25 talks, currently in their second week.

“Despite Trump backing out of the Paris Agreement, climate progress is happening in the US thanks to bold action from cities, states, & businesses,” he tweeted.

“Tomorrow, I’ll represent the US at #COP25 to deliver our America’s Pledge report showing how far we’ve come.”

Nations are locked in crunch negotiations over how to deliver on the pledges in the Paris agreement to drastically reduce emissions in order to keep global warming to “well below” two degrees Celsius.

Former US President Barack Obama played a key role in pushing through the Paris pact.

But Trump has since signalled his intent to withdraw from the deal, although the United States will still be part of the UN climate change process.

Congressional leader Nancy Pelosi told delegates at the start of the Madrid talks last week that the world could still count on Americans to fight global warming.

“We’re here to say to all of you, on behalf of the House of Representatives and the Congress of the United States, we’re still in it, we’re still in it,” Pelosi said.

Bloomberg is poised to run as a centrist and analysts suspect that he could take away some of the support enjoyed by fellow moderate Joe Biden.