Bloomberg to be announced as UN cities and climate change envoy

The United Nations is expected to announce former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as special envoy for cities and climate change next week, according to reports.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is seeking to re-ignite the global climate change debate and the announcement is expected imminently.

Bloomberg has made combating climate change a key focus during his 12 years leading the United States most populous city. He also advocated for national climate change legislation.

Bloomberg has played a leading role in the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, an international group of mayors created in 2005 and dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

He announced last month that New York City's greenhouse gas emissions have dropped by 19 per cent since 2005, putting the city nearly two-thirds of the way to meeting the goal that he set five years ago.

In the climate change blueprint he launched in 2007, called PlaNYC 2030, Bloomberg set a goal to slash citywide emissions 30 per cent by 2030 through a number of initiatives, such as requiring hybrid taxi cabs, building bike lanes and retrofitting municipal buildings to make them more energy efficient.

But Ban has long seen galvanising support for global action on climate change as key to his legacy as secretary-general, the officials and diplomats say, and is eager to restore the United Nations' relevance to the climate negotiations.