Michael Bloomberg to write $4.5 million check for Paris climate pact

FILE PHOTO: Special envoy to the United Nations for climate change Michael Bloomberg speaks during the One-on-One discussion panel with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde on side of the IMF/World Bank spring meeting in Washington, U.S., April 19, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former New York mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg said on Sunday he will write a $4.5 million check to cover this year's U.S. financial commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement.

President Donald Trump last year pulled the United States out of the pact, making the country the only one opposed to it.

Bloomberg, in a CBS interview, said he hopes by next year Trump will have changed his mind.

Bloomberg will continue to provide money for the pact if the United States does not rejoin the agreement, according to a news release from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charity he founded.

"Our foundation will uphold our promise to cover any cuts to UN climate funding by the federal government," Bloomberg said in the statement.

Trump staunchly opposes the agreement and his administration has rolled back a number of environmental regulations.

(Reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb; Editing by James Dalgleish)