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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/live/2017/jun/01/donald-trump-paris-climate-agreement-live-news

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Paris climate agreement: Trump said to be pulling US out of global pact – live Paris climate agreement: Trump said to be pulling US out of global accord – live
(35 minutes later)
8.23pm BST
20:23
The American Civil Liberties Union calls today’s move by Trump “a massive step back for racial justice”:
Pulling out of the Paris Agreement would be a massive step back for racial justice, and an assault on communities of color across the U.S.
8.21pm BST
20:21
Here’s that live stream again. So you have it handy:
.@realdonaldtrump late to the planet's own funeral – live #actonclimate https://t.co/OWSCHfTtQe
Updated
at 8.22pm BST
8.16pm BST
20:16
Environmental groups have pointed out that the Trump administration’s executive orders setting aside Obama-era emissions caps and other environmental protections have represented an abandonment of the fight against climate change before today’s news.
Which means that should the next US president be sympathetic to the idea of re-joining the Paris accord (assuming it still exists), he/she will have more work to do than simply signing back on to this one deal.
Trump, per a source, will follow the 4-yr rule to get out of Paris, meaning the US will leave on Nov 4, 2020.Election Day 2020: Nov 3.
8.10pm BST
20:10
WH chief of staff Reince Priebus is wearing a green tie. Oh the irony. pic.twitter.com/JEPw9gFmz9
Priebus in green. What can it mean? Only one thing. Covfefe.
8.08pm BST
20:08
Today is a win for chief strategist Steve Bannon, who with Environmental Protection Administrator Scott Pruitt urged the president to jettison the Paris deal.
8.03pm BST
20:03
While we wait... here’s more from the band:
Military jazz quartet accompanying Trump's Paris pull-out announcement at WH: "Surreal...its like the Titanic band," 1 guy here says pic.twitter.com/LFqxOi4er0
8.01pm BST
20:01
White House talking points released – reports
Politico has published a document it says is the White House talking points for pulling out of the Paris accord.
The document squares with other reports about it. It reads:
Paris Accord – TALKERS
Topline: The Paris Accord is a BAD deal for Americans, and the President’s action today is keeping his campaign promise to put American workers first. The Accord was negotiated poorly by the Obama Administration and signed out of desperation. It frontloads costs on the American people to the detriment of our economy and job growth while extracting meaningless commitments from the world’s top global emitters, like China. The U.S. is already leading the world in energy production and doesn’t need a bad deal that will harm American workers.
UNDERMINES U.S. Competitiveness and Jobs
According to a study by NERA Consulting, meeting the Obama Administration’s requirements in the Paris Accord would cost the U.S. economy nearly $3 trillion over the next several decades.
By 2040, our economy would lose 6.5 million industrial sector jobs – including 3.1 million manufacturing sector jobs
It would effectively decapitate our coal industry, which now supplies about one-third of our electric power
The deal was negotiated BADLY, and extracts meaningless commitments from the world’s top polluters
The Obama-negotiated Accord imposes unrealistic targets on the U.S. for reducing our carbon emissions, while giving countries like China a free pass for years to come.
Under the Accord, China will actually increase emissions until 2030
The U.S. is ALREADY a Clean Energy and Oil & Gas Energy Leader; we can reduce our emissions and continue to produce American energy without the Paris Accord
America has already reduced its carbon-dioxide emissions dramatically.
Since 2006, CO2 emissions have declined by 12 percent, and are expected to continue to decline.
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the U.S. is the leader in oil & gas production.
The agreement funds a UN Climate Slush Fund underwritten by American taxpayers
President Obama committed $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund - which is about 30 percent of the initial funding – without authorization from Congress
With $20 trillion in debt, the U.S. taxpayers should not be paying to subsidize other countries’ energy needs.
The deal also accomplishes LITTLE for the climate
According to researchers at MIT, if all member nations met their obligations, the impact on the climate would be negligible. The impacts have been estimated to be likely to reduce global temperature rise by less than .2 degrees Celsius in 2100.
7.56pm BST
19:56
Live stream: Trump withdraws from Paris deal
Via the White House on Youtube:
7.56pm BST
19:56
Trump to call Paris accord a 'BAD' deal
White House talking points obtained by The Associated Press say that the Paris accord “is a BAD deal for Americans” and that the president’s action would keep “his campaign promise to put American workers first”:
“The Accord,” the document goes on to say, “was negotiated poorly by the Obama Administration and signed out of desperation.”
“The U.S. is already leading the world in energy production and doesn’t need a bad deal that will harm American workers,” it reads.
The White House had signaled that withdrawal was likely, but Trump has been known to change his mind at the last minute on such major decisions.
7.54pm BST
19:54
A former Obama senior adviser says the notion that the United States was cornered into making a bad deal in Paris is wrong:
"Better deal" talk is incoherent. The U.S. sets its own Paris target.
7.50pm BST7.50pm BST
19:5019:50
David SmithDavid Smith
Guardian Washington correspondent David Smith is in the Rose Garden, where “a band is playing bouncy, upbeat jazz”:Guardian Washington correspondent David Smith is in the Rose Garden, where “a band is playing bouncy, upbeat jazz”:
“I hear the unmistakable notes of ‘Summertime, and the livin’ is easy’ (orchestral only, no singer). Strangely apt for global warming.”“I hear the unmistakable notes of ‘Summertime, and the livin’ is easy’ (orchestral only, no singer). Strangely apt for global warming.”
Update: dig the bass:Update: dig the bass:
They're playing smooth jazz in the Rose Garden ahead of the president's announcement on the Paris climate accord pic.twitter.com/bPt34W1HP5They're playing smooth jazz in the Rose Garden ahead of the president's announcement on the Paris climate accord pic.twitter.com/bPt34W1HP5
UpdatedUpdated
at 7.51pm BSTat 7.51pm BST
7.46pm BST7.46pm BST
19:4619:46
Reuters and the Washington Post are quoting from a document said to be Trump’s upcoming speech. They have this:Reuters and the Washington Post are quoting from a document said to be Trump’s upcoming speech. They have this:
Trump to say decision to withdraw ‘is keeping his campaign promise to put American workers first’Trump to say decision to withdraw ‘is keeping his campaign promise to put American workers first’
Trump to say Paris climate agreement ‘front loads costs on American people’ - documentTrump to say Paris climate agreement ‘front loads costs on American people’ - document
Trump to say that the accord was bad, negotiated poorly by Obama administration and signed out of desperation.Trump to say that the accord was bad, negotiated poorly by Obama administration and signed out of desperation.
7.43pm BST
19:43
The scene:
Rose Garden being set up for Pres Trump's announcement withdrawing US from Paris Agreement on climate change. pic.twitter.com/51C0YQZTWl
7.41pm BST
19:41
Trump to withdraw from Paris – AP
The Associated Press now has it:
WASHINGTON (AP) — @AP sources: Trump will announce plans to withdraw from #Paris #climatechange accord
Jon Ralston, the dean of Nevada politics journalists, makes this joke for the LAST TIME Please
I guess we won't always have Paris. https://t.co/TkEgYtTRDG
7.39pm BST
19:39
Follow Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org (and Guardian contributor):
Somehow appropriate that oil started flowing through the Dakota pipeline today. Greed uber ales #NoDAPL https://t.co/1LrExNtYSo
7.35pm BST
19:35
About right.
Me: Cancel 3pm callHim: Why?Me: Want to see Paris Accord FinaleHim: Is Trump giving a 🌹?Me: He's producing & starring, playing the thorn
7.33pm BST
19:33
Trump tells Congress he's pulling plug on Paris – reports
The Daily Beast and CNN are carrying reports that Trump has told congressional staffers on a conference call that he’s withdrawing from the Paris accord.
Here’s the Beast:
On a conference call with Capitol Hill staffers ahead of the speech, White House energy policy adviser Michael Catanzaro confirmed that “the United States is getting out of the Paris agreement.” Trump, Catanzaro said, “will be open to and will immediately be looking for a better deal.” A source provided The Daily Beast with the call-in information.
Here’s CNN’s Jake Tapper:
Capitol Hill source tells @acosta the White House has informed the Hill that President Trump is pulling out of the Paris agreement
7.30pm BST
19:30
World urges Trump not to dump Paris deal
Damian Carrington
World leaders, businesses, investors, scientists and development charities have joined in urging Donald Trump not to withdraw the US from the Paris climate change agreement.
The US president is due to announce his decision at 3pm ET on Thursday and is expected to pull the world’s largest economy, and second greatest polluter, from the global accord agreed unanimously by almost 200 nations in 2015.
The agreement to fight global warming is based on voluntary pledges to cut greenhouse emissions but Trump has argued this could damage the US economy. However, a huge range of US business leaders argue the opposite, saying the fast-growing green economy is an opportunity for the US.
Read further:
7.24pm BST
19:24
Note: we’ll embed live video provided by the White House in this blog when the big moment approaches. The video stream, currently inactive, is here.
Of all issues, is there any one more ill-suited to Trump’s reality TV production aesthetic, which prizes moments of grandiose revelation, than climate change? A generational issue that will be with us no matter what happens with this afternoon’s presidential curtain-drop.
7.11pm BST
19:11
Jean Chemnick of E&E News (Environment & Energy publishing) says Myron Ebell, chairman of a group “focused on dispelling the myths of global warming,” will be in the crowd with Trump at the White House today:
Myron Ebell is reportedly going to be in the Rose Garden for Trump's Paris announcement -- so we're out.
7.04pm BST
19:04
US would join Nicaragua and Syria as Paris dissenters
Haroon Siddique
Assuming the US does, as expected, pull out of the historic Paris agreement on climate change, it will join a very small list of countries with which it has little else in common in terms of emissions.
The only other UN members not signed up are Nicaragua and Syria, which both chose not to enter into the climate accord in the first place.
Their reasons for doing so were very different from those that seem to be influencing Donald Trump, who has previously described climate change as a hoax.
Nicaragua’ declined to sign up because it thought the accord did not go far enough. In November 2015, Paul Oquist, Nicaragua’s lead envoy to the Paris negotiations, told Climate Home: “We’re not going to submit because voluntary responsibility is a path to failure. We don’t want to be an accomplice to taking the world to 3 to 4 degrees and the death and destruction that represents.”
Read further:
5.48pm BST
17:48
Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of Donald Trump’s announcement of whether he will withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord.
The president is playing up his decision for maximum
political
theatrical effect, having teased it for a couple days now. The big reveal is scheduled for 3pm ET (8pm BST) in the White House rose garden.
I will be announcing my decision on Paris Accord, Thursday at 3:00 P.M. The White House Rose Garden. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
It must be said that Trump is expected to ditch the deal. Elected Republicans whom he needs to advance his domestic agenda want him to. His top political strategist reportedly wants him to. And a narrow majority of Republican voters favors erasing environmental regulations, according to Quinnipiac polling.
What is the Paris agreement?
It’s a climate change accord agreed by nearly 200 countries in December 2015, which came into force on 4 November 2016. The agreement commits world leaders to keeping global warming below 2C (3.6F), seen as the threshold for safety by scientists, and pursuing a tougher target of 1.5C (2.7F). The carbon emission curbs put forward by countries under Paris are not legally binding but the framework of the accord, which includes a mechanism for periodically cranking those pledges up, is binding. The agreement also has a long-term goal for net zero emissions which would effectively phase out fossil fuels.
What happens if the US withdraws?
The Guardian’s Emma Graham-Harrison writes:
The US is not bound to any targets by the Paris accord, and is already moving away from Barack Obama’s commitment to cut emissions. It will continue to do so regardless of whether it remains part of the global deal.
There are fears that formal withdrawal could dent the soft-power impact of the agreement. But other major emitters including the European Union and China point out that the US would be as free to rejoin as it is to leave.
The EU and China have vowed that their commitment to tackling climate change will not be affected by the US decision.
While we wait for Trump, here’s a selection of our latest coverage of his decision:
Thanks for reading and please join us in the comments.
Updated
at 7.01pm BST