Bill Clinton and Bloomberg unveil ‘climate risk’ project

Clinton and Bloomberg at a 2009 CGI meeting (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)NEW YORK—Former President Bill Clinton and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a new climate initiative Monday to help cities measure their risk for severe weather and natural disasters. The hope is to help curb the impact of deadly storms like Superstorm Sandy, which devastated parts of New York City last October.

The project will be run through C40, a coalition of major cities around the world that united to study the impact of climate change on their municipalities. The group, chaired by Bloomberg, merged two years ago with the Clinton Climate Initiative—an offshoot of Clinton’s philanthropic foundation.

Known as the C40 Risk Assessment Framework, the "climate risk" project, as Bloomberg referred to it, would develop a consistent set of measures by which cities could assess their risk of a natural disaster, including hurricanes and floods.

“Cities simply cannot afford to close their eyes and hope for the best,” Bloomberg said, as he and Clinton unveiled the project during a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative in Manhattan.

“If you can’t measure a risk, you can’t manage it,” Bloomberg added, warning that a damaging storm like Sandy could happen again.

Bloomberg and Clinton argued that having a consistent measure of risk would help lawmakers prioritize on where to spend money to ward off natural disasters and sell voters on why infrastructure is necessary. Among other things, the framework would examine a city's potential for flooding or other issues related to the environment.

A framework "gives legislators something to hang their hats on ... an independent measure of what the risks are,” Bloomberg said.

The mayor added, “It’s like a rating on your bonds. People will believe it.”

Their joint appearance also had the feeling of a political lovefest. Before Bloomberg took the stage, Clinton praised Bloomberg for his work in trying to combat climate change and for his leadership before, during and in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. Bloomberg, for his part, praised Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who had appeared on stage a few minutes before to announce that she and her husband plan to hold a CGI meeting in Brazil this fall to focus on development in Latin America.

To wild applause, Hillary Clinton noted that this CGI meeting was her first “as a private citizen.”

Afterwards, Bill Clinton took the stage and praised both his wife and their daughter, Chelsea, for taking greater roles in his philanthropic foundation. And he was followed by Bloomberg, who also paused in his remarks to praise Hillary Clinton, a former Democratic senator from New York whom he reportedly courted to be his successor at City Hall when he leaves later this year.

But Bloomberg made no mention of those overtures as he praised Hillary Clinton "as the real star of the show" at the meeting. "I am honored to welcome Secretary Clinton back to New York City," Bloomberg said.

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Chris Christie, Hillary Clinton to address Bill Clinton forum

Chris Christie (John Moore/Getty Images)Cue the 2016 buzz: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Hillary Clinton will be among the featured speakers at next month’s meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative America conference.

Sponsored by former President Bill Clinton, the gathering kicks off June 13 in Chicago and will focus on how to create jobs and improve the U.S. economy.

According to a release from the Clinton Foundation, Christie is one of only two Republicans currently slated to address the conference. The other is Scott Smith, mayor of Mesa, Ariz. Other speakers tentatively set to appear include Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Chelsea Clinton, actress Eva Longoria and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

It will be Hillary Clinton’s first appearance before the group, which is an offshoot of her husband’s Clinton Foundation.

“I’m thrilled that Hillary will be participating in CGI America for the first time,” the former president said in a statement announcing the conference.

Hillary Clinton is widely considered a front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016—though she has repeatedly declined to say whether she will run. At the same time, Christie, who is currently running for re-election in New Jersey, has been eyed as a possible contender for the GOP nomination—though he, too, has declined to speculate on his political future.

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Arianna Huffington: Hillary Clinton is 'Obviously Running' in 2016

Below you can find some of the notable comments made Sunday on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." North Korea roundtable guests included ABC News' chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz, who just returned from reporting at the North Korean border; New York Times chief Washington correspondent and author of "Confront and Conceal" David Sanger; Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren; and ABC News' George Will. Joining Greta and George on the "This Week" powerhouse political roundtable was president and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Media Group Arianna Huffington; Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman; former Reagan budget director David Stockman, and author of "The Great Deformation: the Corruption of Capitalism in America."

Huffington wishes Hillary would have taken 'more time'

HUFFINGTON: No, no. She's obviously running. But what I was hoping is that she would have taken to more time to become what she called herself, untired.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Untired.

HUFFINGTON: Untired. That was her term, you know? She wanted to sleep in. To be able to recharge herself. She hasn't given herself that time. And I think that's sending a bad message to women that the only way to succeed, the only way to run is to drive yourself into the ground.

After all she collapsed, she had a concussion. And right now you see a greater debate among corporations among corporations, among individuals, how can redefine success? How we can actually reduce stress and burnout? Which is having a terrible impact on our health care system.

Van Susteren says inside North Korea, 'they think we're getting ready for war'

VAN SUSTEREN: The whole time we were there, all we saw was preparation for war…If you go inside, they have been at war with us since the early 1950s. They think that every single one of us is spending every Saturday night sitting around planning how to get them while we're busy ordering pizzas and Chinese food carryout, they think that we're getting ready for war.

Sanger and Raddatz agree a North Korean missile that heads 'right into the water' is the best option

SANGER: A test that went right into the water would be the best thing that could happen. It's better than sinking a ship…

RADDATZ: As long as no one responds.

SANGER: Yeah.

RADDATZ: That would be best.

Stockman thinks 'the machinery of government is massively failing'

STOCKMAN: I think the machinery of government is massively failing. And that's the problem we face. And it's a real threat to Main Street economy, and that's why the numbers are far more serious -that you heard Friday- than is being suggested by the White House.

Huffington says everyone should 'lighten up' over Obama's Kamala Harris comment

HUFFINGTON: Everybody should relax. Lighten up. It was an aside. It's unbelievable. George and I were talking in the green room about the GK Chesterton quote, "If there is one thing worse than the modern weakening of modern morals, it's the modern strengthening of minor morals."

Mock outrage. I mean I wish there was more outrage about the jobs numbers than there was about, than we had about Kamala Harris.

On Harris comment, Will commends the President for finally saying 'something accurate'

WILL: First, the President finally said something accurate and we should treasure him for this. Second, there is nothing, no growth industry in this country like the manufacturing of synthetic indignation.

Krugman calls Obama's Kamala Harris comment 'dumb'

KRUGMAN: This is, it was dumb. And it's right to slap him for it. But you know, there's a little bit of pig in all of us. I speak from personal experience. So there we are.

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Hillary Clinton headlines NY women's conference

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the rights of women represent "the unfinished business of the 21st century" in the U.S. and around the world.

Clinton spoke Friday at a forum on global women's issues. She offered no new clues about her future at the annual Women in the World summit. But she says the mission of gender equality is not limited to the developing world.

It's one of her first speeches since leaving the State Department. She says the U.S. needs to empower women to participate more fully in the economy and promote equal pay for women.

The former first lady and New York senator was the keynote speaker at a star-studded conference focusing on women across the globe, with appearances by actresses Angelina Jolie and Meryl Streep.

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