Trump will announce decision on climate agreement Thursday

Trump has previously called global warming a hoax and during the presidential race warned he would defund any United Nations programs related to climate change. This landmark agreement wouldn’t have happened without American leadership.

Trump said in a Twitter post on Wednesday night that he would make the announcement at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) on Thursday in the White House Rose Garden, ending his tweet with “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Almost 200 countries are party to the agreement, which includes individualized carbon emission reduction targets set by each country. The pact sets a target of holding the global average rise in temperature below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and preferably below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

If the USA backs out of the Paris Agreement, what would that look like?

The Paris agreement may turn out to be unintentionally Trump-proof, given how long it will take the U.S. to extricate itself.

But CBS News confirms that the president has started to tell confidants he will withdraw from the agreement. The agreement comes with a three-year moratorium on countries backing out of the agreement. Withdrawal would take effect a year after notification, which can be given at any moment. If the US does leave, he said, the Europe Union should seek ways to balance out the economic advantage that USA companies might have from the absence of climate regulations. The official said the president and his staff were finalising the details of a pullout. In order to withdraw from the Paris Agreement immediately, Trump would need to withdraw from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), the analysis says.

The administration’s decision comes after months of internal debate and speculation about what Trump, who campaigned on leaving the deal, would do once he took office.

Backing out of the UNFCCC would be harder for future administrations to reverse. “Tackling climate change and reforming our energy systems are significant drivers of job creation, investment opportunities and economic growth”, says the paper, which is due to be published on Friday, according to the financial publication. Even fossil fuel companies such as Exxon Mobil, BP and Shell say the United States should abide by the deal. While officials like Secretary of State Rex Tillerson support the Paris deal, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt had pushed against it.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel warned on Thursday that if the Paris accord frayed because of a USA pullout, “then it means we will be doing less on climate protection, the deserts will grow, war and civil war will take place over water, with corresponding movements of migrants”. Still, the United States remains the world’s second largest emitter of carbon dioxide.