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President Donald Trump has announced the United States is withdrawing from the 2015 Paris climate agreement, saying the deal is "less about the climate and more about other countries gaining an advantage over the United States".
Key points
- Trump says the Paris agreement disadvantages the US to the benefit of other countries
- He says the US will save 2.7 million jobs by exiting the climate deal
- The US will work to re-enter the accord "on terms that are fair to the United States".
Mr Trump's announcement in the White House Rose Garden capped days of speculation about whether he would fulfil his campaign pledge to "cancel" the deal, ratified by nearly 200 nations in the French capital in 2015.
He said the US would cease all implementation of non-binding elements of the agreement "as of today" and it would begin negotiations either to re-enter the Paris accord or to have a new agreement "on terms that are fair to the United States, its businesses, its workers, its people, its taxpayers".
He said the agreement as it stands would make it "very hard" for the US "to compete with the rest of the world," and said leaving it would save 2.7 million jobs, primarily in manufacturing.
"It just transfers [coal] jobs out of the United States and ships them to other countries," he said.
"At what point do they start laughing at us as a country?
"I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.
"I will work to ensure America remains the world's leader on environmental issues but under a framework that is fair."
The Paris deal aims to limit planetary warming in part by slashing carbon dioxide and other emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.
Under the pact, the US committed to reducing its emissions by 26 to 28 per cent from 2005 levels by 2025.
Obama: US is now 'rejecting the future'
The decision to withdraw puts the US in league with Syria and Nicaragua as the world's only non-participants in the Paris climate agreement.
Former president Barack Obama accused the Trump administration of joining "a small handful of nations that reject the future".
"The nations that remain in the Paris agreement will be the nations that reap the benefits in jobs and industries created," he said.
"I believe the United States of America should be at the front of the pack.
"But even in the absence of American leadership … I'm confident that our states, cities, and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way, and help protect for future generations the one planet we've got."
US Senator Bernie Sanders, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination last year, said: "At this moment, when climate change is already causing devastating harm around the world, we do not have the moral right to turn our backs on efforts to preserve this planet for future generations."
Democratic senator Sheldon Whitehouse added: "Ignoring reality and leaving the Paris agreement could go down as one of the worst foreign policy blunders in our nation's history, isolating the US further after Trump's shockingly bad European trip."
In reaction to the announcement, Tesla boss Elon Musk posted a tweet saying he would follow through on his threat to leave Mr Trump's advisory board if the US dropped out of the climate deal.
Trump at odds with world leaders; Australia still locked in to deal
International leaders had pressed Mr Trump not to abandon the accord.
Before Mr Trump announced his decision, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said fighting global warming was a "global consensus" and an "international responsibility".
Without mentioning the US specifically, Mr Li said "China in recent years has stayed true to its commitment" and pointed out that his was one of the first countries to ratify the 2015 Paris agreement.
Minister for Environment and Energy Josh Frydenberg told News Breakfast that Australia remained committed to the Paris Accord.
"We believe that the targets we agreed to, the 26 per cent to 28 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030 on 2005 levels are reasonable, are achievable," he said.
"We will beat them, just as we beat our first Kyoto target and we're on track to beat the second Kyoto target, the 2020 target, by 224 million tonnes."
He noted that the US business community remained committed to the agreement.
Agreement 'simply a raw deal', Republicans say
Republicans applauded Mr Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said Mr Trump had "put families and jobs ahead of left-wing ideology and should be commended".
And House Speaker Paul Ryan said: "The Paris climate agreement was simply a raw deal for America."
Energy Secretary Rick Perry said the decision meant the US would "no longer be bound by an agreement unilaterally entered into by the Obama administration".
Mr Perry, a former Texas governor, said instead of preaching about clean energy, the Trump administration was acting on it.
"Our work and deeds are more important than empty words," he said.
"I know you can drive economic growth and protect the environment at the same time, because that is exactly what I did as governor of Texas."
He said the US would continue to develop "next generation technology" in energy, including nuclear energy, liquefied natural gas and renewables such as wind and solar power.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke also applauded the decision, saying "America's energy and economic destiny should be up to the United States, not the United Nations".
He praised Mr Trump for taking "bold and decisive action to pull the US out of the poorly negotiated Paris accord that would kill American jobs and manufacturing while doing little to protect the environment".
ABC/wires
Topics: world-politics, government-and-politics, donald-trump, climate-change, environment, community-and-society, united-states
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