President Donald Trump has finally pulled the United States out of the climate change agreement signed in 2015.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Trump described the agreement as a “massive redistribution of United States’ wealth to other countries”.
The US leader had promised to withdraw from the deal during the buildup to his election, a move that was backed by senior Republicans and the US coal industry.
“In order to fulfil my solemn duty to protect America and its citizens, the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate accord but begin negotiations to re-enter either the Paris accord, or an entirely new transaction on terms that are fair to the United States, its businesses, its workers, its people, its tax-payers,” he said.
“So we’re getting out. But we will start to negotiate and we will see if we can make a deal that’s fair.
“And if we can, that’s great. And if we can’t, that’s fine.”
UN chief Antonio Guterres’s spokesman called it “a major disappointment” while the European Union said it was “a sad day for the world”, BBC News reports.
Disney’s chief executive Robert Iger and the entrepreneur Elon Musk both resigned from White House advisory councils following the move by President Trump to leave the agreement.
“Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world,” said Mr Musk, the head of tech giant Tesla.
The Paris deal is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020.
A total of 195 countries, including Nigeria, negotiated the agreement at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in Paris, and it was adopted by consensus on December 12, 2015.