03 June, 2017
As the world's second-biggest polluter after China, a move by the U.S.to scrap the accord involving nearly 200 nations would pour hundreds of billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and speed up the warming trend already taking place.
Although the official cautions no decision is final until the president announces it, the source said the White House is now working on how to roll out and explain the reasons behind that announcement. They both appeared on Fox News' "Fox & Friends".
By abandoning the world's chief effort to slow the tide of planetary warming, Trump was fulfilling a top campaign pledge after weeks of building up suspense over his decision. Paris effectively sets up the reporting framework and the temperature goals, but each country's individual target is voluntary.
First, Guterres said he will immediately press for ratification of the Kigali Amendment agreed to in October by almost 200 nations on limiting the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) - greenhouse gases far more powerful than carbon dioxide that are depleting the ozone layer.
Scientists say Earth is likely to reach more risky levels of warming sooner as a result of the president's decision because America contributes so much to rising temperatures. Calculations suggest withdrawal could result in emissions of up to 3 billion tons of additional carbon dioxide in the air a year - enough to melt ice sheets faster, raise seas higher and trigger more extreme weather.
The leaders of France, Germany and Italy joined to "note with regret" the Trump decision and express doubts about any change in the accord.
Guterres also pledged to work with developing countries to mobilize resources to tackle the impact of climate change and strengthen efforts by small island states against "the existential threat" that global warming poses.
Barbara Hendricks said other countries will fill the leadership void left by the United States but none will be expected to make up the shortfall in emissions reductions caused by Washington's exit. The president and his aides were finalizing the details of a pullout, an official said, insisting on anonymity to discuss the decision before an official announcement.
News of Trump's expected decision drew swift reaction from the United Nations. South Africa's government calls the US pullout "an abdication of global responsibility".
Trump promoted his announcement Wednesday night on Twitter, after a day in which US allies around the world sounded alarms about the likely consequences of a USA withdrawal.
A crowd gathers to protest the U.S. withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement
The White House indicated it would follow the lengthy exit process outlined in the deal.
"Understanding this process, the (other participants) reaffirm their strong commitment to swiftly implement the Paris Agreement".
However, Trump declared, emphasizing every word: "As of today, the United States will cease all implementation of the nonbinding Paris accord". Top White House aides have been divided, and Trump's decision may not be entirely clear-cut. Former President Barack Obama had agreed to reduce the country's emissions to 26 percent to 28 percent of 2005 levels by 2025 - about 1.6 billion tons. But the targets were voluntary, meaning the US and the almost 200 other nations in the agreement could alter their commitments.
While forecasting the state of the environment more than 80 years into the future is a notoriously inexact exercise, academics gathered by the the United Nations at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are concerned the world is headed for "extensive" species extinctions, serious crop damage and irreversible increases in sea levels even before Trump started to unpick the fight against global warming.
Responding to Trump's pointing to his city, Pittsburgh, Mayor Bill Peduto called the decision "disastrous for our planet, for cities such as Pittsburgh", and a step that "has made America weaker and the world less safe". "We should be doing everything we can to accomplish both", Buchanan said.
That's the conclusion of researchers and scientists evaluating the impact of Trump on the health of the climate.
A senior White House official told ABC News that President Trump is poised to drop out of the Paris climate accord. He has spent his first months in office working to delay and roll back federal regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions while pledging to revive long-struggling US coal mines.
In Denmark, climate minister Lars Christian Lilleholt said that "if true, this is a really, really bad signal from the United States".
Congressional Republicans applauded the decision, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky saying Trump had "put families and jobs ahead of left-wing ideology and should be commended".
