Bloomberg Media is launching a new brand, Bloomberg Green, that aims to be the 'definitive' source on capitalism and climate change

• Bloomberg LP's Bloomberg Media is launching a new brand that aims to be the "definitive" source on capitalism and climate change.
• Bloomberg Green went live January 21 and is the company's biggest editorial initiative of recent years with a digital, print, podcast, events, and broadcast presence.
• Bloomberg claims its huge newsroom and data resources make its initiative more significant than what other news outlets are doing.
• The new brand aligns with founder and presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg's longstanding interest in climate change.
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Bloomberg Media, the news arm of financial news and information giant Bloomberg LP, is launching a new brand, Bloomberg Green, that aims to be the "definitive" source of capitalism and climate change news and information.

Bloomberg Green is internally considered the biggest editorial initiative since it launched Twitter news broadcast TicToc, now QuickTake, at the end of 2017 with a team of about 40 people.

Bloomberg Green went live January 21 and will span a website, a twice-yearly magazine, an email newsletter, a podcast, a broadcast presence, and events, starting with a January 22 one at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

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Bloomberg execs wouldn't say how many people are dedicated to the project, but this is the first time it has centralized the coverage under one team. Late last year it was advertising for at least seven journalists to grow its coverage in this area.

It's also lined up marquee sponsors in Amazon, HP Inc., JLL, Tiffany & Co., and PGIM that committed to support Bloomberg Green for its first year.

"It's a strong investment editorially," said Julia Beizer, chief product officer at Bloomberg Media Group.

Bloomberg claims its effort will be more significant than what rivals are doing

Media interest in covering climate change has been on the rise, but Bloomberg execs claim they are giving climate change a sustained focus that's unmatched by any other newsroom.

That's because Bloomberg has the ability to draw on its newsroom of 2,700 people, and a ton of financial data. A key feature of Bloomberg Green is a dashboard containing several climate metrics like how many trees are being lost over time and the quantity of greenhouse gasses being emitted.

"By taking what we do, we could become the definitive platform for capitalism and climate change," said Aaron Rutkoff, the editor of Bloomberg Green. "I want to make very plain, this cuts across the Bloomberg newsroom."

It's significant that an outlet like Bloomberg, with its legitimacy in the business community, is expanding climate change coverage, said Kyle Pope, editor and publisher of Columbia Journalism Review, and a founder of Covering Climate Now, an effort to get more media covering the subject.

Mike Bloomberg is also focused on climate change but the company said its coverage of the subject is unrelated

The project also aligns with a longstanding interest of Bloomberg's founder and owner, and now presidential candidate, Mike Bloomberg.

With Carl Pope, he wrote "Climate of Hope," a book about dealing with climate change. His philanthropic arm, Bloomberg Philanthropies, in June launched a $500 million campaign called Beyond Carbon to take on climate change.

Bloomberg News has said it will continue to keep its distance from covering its founder's presidential campaign, a stance that's had mixed reaction from the newsroom.

And with Bloomberg Green, Bloomberg execs are quick to emphasize that Mike Bloomberg had no involvement in the project, saying Bloomberg News editor in chief John Micklethwait came up with the idea in March, long before Mike Bloomberg announced his presidential run.

"John Micklethwait came up with it very early," Rutkoff said. "His sense was that there was an opening to tell stories about the intersection of capitalism and climate change."

In a memo to news staff in September, Micklethwait listed environmental and climate coverage as key areas of opportunity to expand its coverage, saying they were of growing concern to clients of Bloomberg LP's core terminal business, which is aimed at Wall Street professionals.

Bloomberg has laid the groundwork for climate change coverage for a few years. It owns the Twitter handle @climate, and already produces Climate Changed, an editorial section on Bloomberg.com.

Bloomberg Green is also seen as a way to bolster the value of Bloomberg's digital subscription, which it launched a couple years ago.