Good news? He doesn't live in a coal state. It doesn't appear as if he has any ties to Big Coal and its lobbyists. And best yet, he's rich -- filthy rich -- and doesn't need any dirty dollars to run his campaign. That means he won't be beholden to coal, oil, gas, or any other Big industries. Not so good news? We haven't heard so much as a peep out of him on putting a moratorium on the construction of traditional dirty coal plants. He's said that market forces plus cleaner coal will do the trick. You put a price on carbon and the incentive for cheap coal disappears, and so does a chunk of the 150 or so plants that are currently on the drawing boards, says Bloomberg. And he's touting investing in clean coal technology. It's too pie-in-the sky. This is the one area where Bloomberg gets a Needs Improvement.

It's a safe assumption that Bloomberg would sign America up for a global treaty. From the mayors climate conference in November:

It’s time for America to re-establish its leadership on all issues of international importance, including climate change. Because if we are going to remain the world’s moral compass — a role that we played throughout the 20th century, not always perfectly, but pretty darn well — we need to regain our footing on the world stage...The fight against global warming is a test of America’s leadership — and not just on the environment.

There's other evidence too. Back in 2005, Bloomberg joined mayors nationwide in a pledge to meet the Kyoto Protocol for New York City and bring carbon emissions to levels 7 percent below those of 1990, by 2012. The effort was a direct rebuff to Bush's negligence on solving climate through an international framework. And in 2007, New York City, thanks to Bloomberg, was host to the C40 Large Cities Summit, which brought together mayors from the biggest cities in the world to work together on climate change. In December, Bloomberg heads to the much-anticipated UN climate change conference in Bali. He'll be delivering a speech on behalf of C40. Stay tuned.

In Bloomberg's list of the 14 energy initiatives under his PlaNYC, he lists "foster the market for renewable energy." And his plans are heavy on the solar. For NYC, he's pledged to create a property tax abatement for solar panel installations; support the construction of the city's first carbon neutral building, primarily powered by solar electricity; and increase the use of solar energy in city buildings, among other initiatives. He supported the building of the world's first world's first kinetic hydropower plant, and announced its official opening in June. Bloomberg has also said that by the summer of 2008, 30 percent of the city's heating oil purchases will be required to contain 5 percent biofuel, which will grow to 10 percent by 2010 and 20 percent by 2012.

Bloomberg is 100% in favor of putting a price on carbon. And he was for cap-and-trade as the means to do it before he was against it. In his national energy policy speech in May, he was behind it, but at the mayors conference in November, he announced his support for a tax on carbon instead, arguing the following:

“A direct charge [through a carbon tax] would eliminate the uncertainty that companies would face in a cap-and-trade system. It would be easier to implement and enforce, it would prevent special interests from opening up loopholes, and, it would create an opportunity to cut taxes...Studies show that a pollution fee of $15 for every ton of greenhouse gas would allow us to return more than $500 a year to the average taxpayer."

Bloomberg hasn't specifically endorsed a green jobs program, but he's an astute Fortune 500 businessman, and job creation is par for the course in many of his climate proposals. Here's what he said on green jobs in his November speech before the mayors:

Climate change is...an economic imperative, because clean energy is going to be the oil gusher of the 21st century. Jobs are on the line here – good jobs of every kind: Farm jobs. Factory jobs. Engineering jobs. Sales jobs. Management jobs.

If we don’t capture these clean energy jobs, they’ll just move overseas. To keep these jobs here at home, and to put the brakes on
greenhouse gas pollution, I think we need a strategy that embraces four basic principles, and I’d like to briefly outline them today.

Bloomberg's record on green buildings is solid. Highlights: In 2005, he signed legislation for green building standards for NYC's capital projects over $2 million. In August 2007, Bloomberg announced the completion of a LEED-certified, affordable housing complex in the South Bronx. In October 2007, he signed an executive order to reduce emissions from city-owned buildings and operations by 30% in ten years, a part of his energy initiative in PlaNYC.

This is a big one for the mayor. In the speech that he delivered in November 2007 before the conference of mayors, Bloomberg called on the feds to increase auto efficiency standards, and offered harsh words for their lack of action. And the US Senate's 35 mpg standard by 2020 that now could pass as part of the Congressional energy bill by the end of '07, is not going to cut it. His words:

The current Senate energy bill would raise the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. That’s nowhere near the leap we made from 1975 to 1985, and many foreign cars are already getting 35 miles to the gallon. Even so, U.S. automakers are trying to water down the Senate bill – and if Congress caves, you can bet the loudest cheers will be heard overseas. Raising fuel efficiency standards is the best thing we could do for U.S. automakers – and it would’ve been done years ago, but for the politics.

In NYC, Bloomberg's been moving the ball on hybrids too. In May, he announced that he's requiring all NYC taxi cabs to be hybrid or low-emission within five years.