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Paris climate deal: Trump announces US will withdraw | |
(35 minutes later) | |
President Donald Trump has announced that the US is withdrawing from the 2015 Paris climate agreement. | |
He said moves to negotiate a new deal that would not disadvantage the US would begin. | |
Mr Trump said during last year's presidential election campaign that he would take the step to help his country's oil and coal industries. | |
Opponents say withdrawing from the accord is an abdication of US leadership on a key global challenge. | |
The Paris agreement commits the US and 187 other countries to keeping global temperatures "well below" the level of 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial times and "endeavour to limit" them even more, to 1.5C. | |
Earlier, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres again appealed to Mr Trump not to break the commitment - but said the battle against climate change would continue regardless of the US stance. | |
Mr Guterres told the BBC: "It is obviously a very important decision as the United States is the biggest economy in the world. | |
"But independently of the decision of the American government, it's important that all other governments stay the course. | |
"The Paris agreement is essential for our collective future and it's also important that American society - like all other societies, the business community - mobilise themselves in order to preserve the Paris agreement as a central piece to guarantee the future of our children and grandchildren." | |
Meanwhile, Chinese and EU leaders are set to agree a joint statement backing the Paris agreement, saying it is "an imperative more important than ever". | |
The statement - a draft of which has been seen by the BBC - says rising temperatures affect national security and increase "social and political fragility", while the transition to clean energy creates jobs and economic growth. | |
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has said his country will honour its commitments on climate change. | |
Speaking on a visit to Germany, he said fighting climate change was in China's own interests. | |
"China will continue to implement the promises made in the Paris accord. But of course we also hope to do this with the co-operation of others," Mr Li said. | |
As a big developing country, China had an "international responsibility" to try to prevent climate change, he added. | |
China overtook the US as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in 2007. | |
Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany would stick to its commitments under the 2015 agreement. | |
"I consider it an essential treaty... and I am happy that other countries see it the same way." | |
Russia also said it would stick to its climate commitments, but said the Paris agreement would be affected by a US pullout. | |
"It goes without saying that the effectiveness of this convention is likely to be reduced without its key participants," a Kremlin spokesman said. | |
Mr Trump's refusal to commit to the Paris agreement caused frustration at a G7 meeting last week, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel describing the discussion as "difficult, not to say dissatisfying". | |
What would US withdrawal do? Analysis by BBC environment correspondent Matt McGrath | |
There's no doubt that a US pullout will make it more difficult for the world to reach the goals that it set for itself in the Paris agreement. The US contributes about 15% of global emissions of carbon, but it is also a significant source of finance and technology for developing countries in their efforts to fight rising temperatures. | |
There's also a question of moral leadership, which the US will be giving up, which may have consequences for other diplomatic efforts. | |
Michael Brune, from US environmentalist organisation the Sierra Club, said the expected withdrawal was a "historic mistake which our grandchildren will look back on with stunned dismay at how a world leader could be so divorced from reality and morality". | |
More on this from Matt | |
What is climate change? | |
What was agreed in Paris? | |
Climate change, or global warming, refers to the damaging effect of gases, or emissions, released from industry and agriculture on the atmosphere. | |
The Paris accord is meant to limit the global rise in temperature attributed to emissions. | |
Countries agreed to: | |
To date, 147 out of 197 countries have ratified the accord, including the US, where it entered into force last November. |