The United States has officially told the United Nations that the US intends to pull out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
Last month, President Trump announced that he planned to abandon the the landmark ‘Paris Accord’ global climate change deal in the face of domestic and international condemnation.
The historic global deal reached in the French capital in December 2015, saw nearly 200 countries agree to curb rising temperatures.
The Paris agreement went into effect on 4 November 2016, just days before Mr Trump was elected.
President Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama signed up to the deal without ratification by the US Senate.
Mr Trump, who has described climate change as a hoax by the Chinese to hurt US manufacturing, pledged to abandon the deal during the US presidential race.
He has also promised to boost fossil fuel production at home.
The notification to the UN does not formally start the process of the US getting out of the voluntary agreement, but it sends a “strong message” to the world, the US State Department said.
A country can serve notice it is quitting the deal three years after it came into force, and it then takes another year to leave.
It would also be possible for the US not to formally leave but simply refuse to meet its commitments, which are voluntary for countries.
The State Department says it can officially start withdrawing as soon as November 2019.
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