United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to special envoy for cities and climate change on Friday, Reuters reported.
Ban said the former mayor will help with "consultations with mayors and related key stakeholders, in order to raise political will and mobilize action among cities as part of his long-term strategy to advance efforts on climate change."
The newly created role for Bloomberg, who left office last month, was officially reported on Thursday. During his 12 years of public service, he made climate a priority and supported national legislation.
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, posted a warm welcome for Bloomberg on Twitter.
"Mayor @MikeBloomberg knows how to get things done. We need more leaders like him here @UN," Power said.
In September, the United Nations will hold a one-day climate change summit in New York.
Bloomberg, who is president of the board of the C40 Cities Climate Change Leadership Group -- an international organization of mayors created in 2005 to decrease greenhouse gas emissions -- will travel to Johannesburg next week to meet with C40 leaders.
Last month, he announced that New York City's greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 19 percent since 2005. In a plan called PlaNYC 2030, which he created in 2007, Bloomberg listed a number of ways to reduce city emissions by 30 percent by 2030, specifically through hyrbid taxi cabs, creating more bike lanes, and making more municipal buildings energy efficient.
Former Ghana President John Kufuor and former Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg were appointed to special envoys for climate change as well.
