WASHINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday to undo a slew of Obama-era climate change regulations that his administration says is hobbling oil drillers and coal miners, a move environmental groups have vowed to take to court.

The decree's main target is former President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan that required states to slash carbon emissions from power plants - a critical element in helping the United States meet its commitments to a global climate change accord reached by nearly 200 countries in Paris in 2015.

The so-called "Energy Independence" order also reverses a ban on coal leasing on federal lands, undoes rules to curb methane emissions from oil and gas production, and reduces the weight of climate change and carbon emissions in policy and infrastructure permitting decisions.

"I am taking historic steps to lift restrictions on American energy, to reverse government intrusion, and to cancel job-killing regulations," Trump said at the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters, speaking on a stage lined with coal miners.

The wide-ranging order is the boldest yet in Trump´s broader push to cut environmental regulation to revive the drilling and mining industries, a promise he made repeatedly during the presidential campaign. But energy analysts and executives have questioned whether the moves will have a big effect on their industries, and environmentalists have called them reckless.

"I cannot tell you how many jobs the executive order is going to create but I can tell you that it provides confidence in this administration´s commitment to the coal industry," Kentucky Coal Association president Tyler White told Reuters.

Trump signed the order with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Vice President Mike Pence by his side.

U.S. presidents have aimed to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil since the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s, which triggered soaring prices. But the United States still imports about 7.9 million barrels of crude oil a day, almost enough meet total oil demand in Japan and India combined.

While Trump's administration has said reducing environmental regulation will create jobs, some green groups have countered that rules supporting clean energy have done the same.

The number of jobs in the U.S. wind power industry rose 32 percent last year while solar power jobs rose by 25 percent, according to a Department of Energy study.

Environmental groups hurled scorn on Trump's order, arguing it is dangerous and goes against the broader global trend toward cleaner energy technologies.

"These actions are an assault on American values and they endanger the health, safety and prosperity of every American," said billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer, the head of activist group NextGen Climate.

Green group Earthjustice was one of many organizations that said it will fight the order both in and out of court. "This order ignores the law and scientific reality," said its president, Trip Van Noppen.

An overwhelming majority of scientists believe that human use of oil and coal for energy is a main driver of climate change, causing a damaging rise in sea levels, droughts, and more frequent violent storms.

But Trump and several members of his administration have doubts about climate change, and Trump promised during his campaign to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord, arguing it would hurt U.S. business.

Since being elected Trump has been mum on the Paris deal and the executive order does not address it.

Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change who helped broker the Paris accord, lamented Trump's order.

"Trying to make fossil fuels remain competitive in the face of a booming clean renewable power sector, with the clean air and plentiful jobs it continues to generate, is going against the flow of economics," she said.

The order will direct the EPA to start a formal "review" process to undo the Clean Power Plan, which was introduced by Obama in 2014 but was never implemented in part because of legal challenges brought by Republican-controlled states.

The Clean Power Plan required states to collectively cut carbon emissions from power plants by 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

Some 85 percent of U.S. states are on track to meet the targets despite the fact the rule has not been implemented, according to Bill Becker, director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, a group of state and local air pollution control agencies.

Trump´s order also lifts the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management's temporary ban on coal leasing on federal property put in place by Obama in 2016 as part of a review to study the program's impact on climate change and ensure royalty revenues were fair to taxpayers.

It also asks federal agencies to discount the cost of carbon in policy decisions and the weight of climate change considerations in infrastructure permitting, and reverses rules limiting methane leakage from oil and gas facilities. (Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner; writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Mary Milliken and Jeffrey Benkoe) </s> Environmentalists are terrified after President Trump shockingly signed executive orders to overturn climate change policies put into place by Barack Obama. The order means the government won’t be dedicated to combatting global warming, and people have a problem. Read their tweets!

President Donald Trump, 70, signed a sweeping executive order on March 28 at the Environmental Protection Agency that aims to limit the federal government’s involvement in fighting climate change. Instead, the Trump administration said that they’re putting creating American jobs first. Trump’s order directly overturns six climate change policies put into place by Former President Barack Obama, specifically a November 2013 executive order instructing the federal government to prepare the country for the impact of climate change, as well as a September 2016 memorandum that speaks to the “growing threat to national security” climate change poses.

Trump’s order calls for a review of the Clean Power Plan, allows coal mining on US federal lands and lets federal agencies “identify all regulations, all rules, all policies … that serve as obstacles and impediments to American energy independence.” Signing the order brings fears to the forefront about the Trump administration’s attitude toward climate change.

Trump has said multiple times that he doesn’t believe in climate change; in 2012 he tweeted “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”No, he really tweeted that! Environmentalists feared that his presidency would lead to destruction, and after the March 28 order, they expressed their concerns, and disbelief, on Twitter:

“These actions [by President Trump] are an assault on American values and they endanger the health, safety and prosperity of every American,” Tom Steyer, the president of NexGen Climate, said in a statement to CNN after the executive order was signed. “Trump is deliberately destroying programs that create jobs and safeguards that protect our air and water, all for the sake of allowing corporate polluters to profit at our expense.”

HollywoodLifers, are you shocked that Trump signed orders to repeal EPA protections? Tell us in the comments. </s> WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will sign a sweeping executive order Tuesday at the Environmental Protection Agency, which looks to curb the federal government’s enforcement of climate regulations by putting American jobs above addressing climate change.

The order represents a clear difference between how Trump and former President Barack Obama view the role the United States plays in combating climate change, and dramatically alters the government’s approach to rising sea levels and temperatures — two impacts of climate change.

A White House official briefed on the plan said Monday the administration believes the government can both “serve the environment and increase energy independence at the same time” by urging the EPA for focus on what the administration believes is its core mission: Clean air and clean water.

More important than regulating climate change, the official said, is protecting American jobs.

“It is an issue that deserves attention,” the official said of climate change. “But I think the President has been very clear that he is not going to pursue climate change policies that put the US economy at risk. It is very simple.”

Tuesday’s order will initiate a review of the Clean Power Plant initiative, rescind the moratorium on coal mining on US federal lands and urge federal agencies to “identify all regulations, all rules, all policies … that serve as obstacles and impediments to American energy independence,” the official said.

Specifically, the order will rescind at least six Obama-era executive orders aimed at curbing climate change and regulating carbon emissions, including Obama’s November 2013 executive order instructing the federal government to prepare for the impact of climate change and the September 2016 presidential memorandum that outlined the “growing threat to national security” that climate change poses.

“The previous administration devalued workers by their policies,” the official said. “We are saying we can do both. We can protect the environment and provide people with work.”

The White House official went on to argue that the best way to protect the environment is to have a strong economy, noting that countries like India and China do less to protect the environment.

“To the extent that the economy is strong and growing and you have prosperity, that is the best way to protect the environment,” the official said.

The executive order also represents the greatest fears climate change advocates had when Trump was elected in November 2016.

“These actions are an assault on American values and they endanger the health, safety and prosperity of every American,” Tom Steyer, the president of NexGen Climate, said in a statement. “Trump is deliberately destroying programs that create jobs and safeguards that protect our air and water, all for the sake of allowing corporate polluters to profit at our expense.”

Andrew Steer, CEO of the World Resources Institute, said that the executive order shows Trump is “failing a test of leadership to protect Americans’ health, the environment and economy.”

But as much as Democrats and climate advocates will decry it, Trump’s executive order follows the President’s past comments about climate change. Though Trump told The New York Times during the election that he has an “open mind” about confronting climate change, he also once called it a hoax.

“The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive,” Trump tweeted in November 2012.

“I will also cancel all wasteful climate change spending from Obama/Clinton,” Trump said in October 2016.

The changes, the official said, do not mean the Trump administration will not look to protect the environment any longer, the official said, but when pressed about the human impact on climate change and Trump’s beliefs, the official was reluctant to say whether all government officials in the Trump White House believe humans cause climate change.

“I think there are plenty of rules on the books already. We will continue to enforce that provide for clean air and clean water. And that is what we are going to do,” the official said. “The President has been very clear that he wants the EPA to stick to that basic core mission that Congress set out for it.”

The changes also reflect the view of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who routinely sued the organization he now leads during his time as the Attorney General of Oklahoma. In an interview with CNBC earlier this month, Pruitt argued incorrectly that carbon dioxide isn’t the “primary contributor” to climate change, a comment that goes against most scientific research.

This executive order is also an attempt by the Trump administration to make good on its promise to bring more coal jobs back. The official said that Obama’s regulations “were not helpful” to the coal industry and these reversals are the President honoring “a pledge he made to the coal industry.”

“We are going to put our coal miners back to work,” Trump said at a March 2017 event in Kentucky. “They have not been treated well, but they’re going to be treated well now.” </s> President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Tuesday taking steps to unravel the most contentious climate-change policies of his predecessor, the White House said.

The Trump administration will formally review President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which requires utilities to reduce power plant carbon-dioxide emissions 32% below 2005 levels by 2030, a senior White House official said Monday night.

Officials will also pull back August 2016 guidance from the Council on Environmental Quality on climate change and official estimates of the social cost of carbon, methane and nitrous oxide, and rescind a temporary ban on new coal leases on federal lands that Obama’s Interior Department issued in early 2016.

Certain other presidential memorandums issued by Obama on environmental matters would also be canceled, the official said. The moves are all but certain to trigger legal and political pushback from supporters of the Obama administration’s policies on the climate, who include Democrats and environmentalists.

An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.

White House opens door to Democrats in wake of health-bill failure.

The high-speed trading behind your Amazon purchase. </s> Washington (CNN) The executive order President Donald Trump signed Tuesday afternoon at the Environmental Protection Agency is an unambiguous move by the President to halt the United States' government's attempts to curb carbon dioxide emissions with the goal of encouraging American business.

But the executive order, while sweeping, does not do everything the Trump administration thinks. It is unlikely to bring a restoration of the coal industry, is certain to be caught up in court for years, and on its own, doesn't pull the US out of the Paris accords.

Here is a breakdown of what Trump's executive order accomplishes and what it doesn't:

What does Trump hope to achieve?

Donald Trump's executive order on climate change, his advisers say, is the President's attempt to put American jobs first.

"It is an issue that deserves attention," an official said Monday of climate change. "But I think the President has been very clear that he is not going to pursue climate change policies that put the US economy at risk. It is very simple."

Trump has long been a critic of climate change policies, even going so far to call climate change a "hoax" perpetrated by the Chinese.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer would not say Tuesday whether Trump still believes climate change is a hoax.

"He does not believe, as I mentioned at the outset, that there is a binary choice between job creation, economic growth and caring about the environment," Spicer said. "That's what we should be focusing on."

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who sued the EPA routinely as Oklahoma attorney general, argued incorrectly earlier this month that carbon dioxide isn't the "primary contributor" to climate change, a comment that goes against most scientific research.

What is he actually reversing?

Trump's executive order takes a hammer to the moves President Barack Obama took to combat climate change.

It directs EPA to review Obama's Clean Power Plan, rescind the moratorium on coal mining on US federal lands and urge federal agencies to "identify all regulations, all rules, all policies ... that serve as obstacles and impediments to American energy independence," the official said.

It also goes directly after Obama's record, repealing at least six Obama-era executive orders aimed at addressing global warming, including a series of orders that instructed the federal government to prepare for the impacts of climate change.

Can Trump actually do all this?

It's unclear. Many of these moves will certainly end up in court.

Experts said Tuesday that getting rid of the Clean Power Plan, the 2014 plan that put a limit to the amount of carbon dioxide produced by a range of power plants, will be far harder than just signing a document.

"The executive order does not make the Clean Power (Plan) go away," said Richard Revesz, Director of the Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU School of Law. "This is the first move of a long chess game that will take years to unfold, and future moves will be far more challenging."

Revesz added that the executive order "has no legal significance at all" because it will be part of a process that has "many significant hurdles built in.

"The executive order will be challenged legally because it undermines the Supreme Court's Massachusetts vs. EPA decision, which ruled that the government has a duty to limit climate pollution under the Clean Air Act assuming an endangerment finding, which was issued in 2009, upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012, and served as the basis of the carbon pollution limits for new and existing power plants," the National Wildlife Federation said on Tuesday.

The Clean Power Plan went to court after Obama unveiled it in 2015. Opponents argue that the EPA went too far under the law to push the rule, while advocates say the agency has the authority to regulate carbon emissions.

The Supreme Court delayed implantation of the rule in February 2016. Since then, a panel of the US Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit heard oral arguments on the merits of the rule, but has yet to weigh in.

What happens with the Paris Climate agreement?

That is to be determined.

A White House official told reporters that he would not comment -- good or bad -- on Paris because the Trump administration is still determining whether to withdraw from the landmark climate deal that was struck in 2016.

Trump promised throughout the 2016 campaign that he would pull out of the Paris deal, but the fact he has yet to do some is left some environmental advocates hopeful that he may remain in the agreement.

Even so, if the changes Trump is proposing go through, it will be difficult for the United States to comply with the requirements outlined in the agreement.

With a mix of horror and resolve.

Most understand that Trump's order will go to court, and a number have questioned whether Trump will even be able to implement his order. But what Trump has made clear with the order is that he plans to do a 180-degree turn when it comes to climate change.

"On the heels of the three hottest years on record, President Trump is reversing the biggest steps our country has taken (toward) fighting climate change," League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski said in a statement. "Rolling back these public health protections shows Trump cares more about big polluters than the well-being of our communities."

Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said Trump's executive order "will make things harder, not easier for Americans."

Can coal jobs really come back?

Trump made this a key promise during his 2016 campaign especially during primaries in states with a number of coal jobs, and in Ohio and Pennsylvania during the general election.

Robert Murray, founder and chief executive of Murray Energy, told CNN in January that he asked Trump during a meeting to "temper" his coal promises.

Murray said that coal employment "can't be brought back to where it was before the election of Barack Obama."

Trump's executive order would, however, move to make it easier to mine coal by rescinding the moratorium on coal mining on US federal lands and opening the door to fewer restrictions on carbon emissions produced by power plants.

Doesn't this come as worldwide temperatures are rising?

Yes. The World Meteorological Organization, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA found that 2016 was the warmest year on record, and the third consecutive year to rank hotter than all previous years.

This, climate scientists say, can only be explained by one thing: Man-made greenhouse gas emissions. </s> WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order intended to roll back most of President Barack Obama's climate-change legacy, celebrating the move as a way to promote energy independence and to restore thousands of lost coal-industry jobs.

Flanked by coal miners at a ceremony at the Environmental Protection Agency, Trump signed a short document titled the "Energy Independence" executive order, directing the agency to start the legal process of withdrawing and rewriting the Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of Obama's policies to fight global warming.

"C'mon fellas. You know what this is? You know what this says?" Trump said to the miners. "You're going back to work."

The order also takes aim at a suite of narrower but significant Obama-era climate and environmental policies, including lifting a short-term ban on new coal mining on public lands.

[PRESIDENT TRUMP: Timeline, appointments, executive orders + guide to actions in first 100 days]

The executive order does not address the United States' participation in the 2015 Paris Agreement, the landmark accord that committed nearly every country to take steps to reduce climate-altering pollution.

Trump advertised the moves as a way to decrease the nation's dependence on imported fuels and revive the flagging coal industry.

"We're ending the theft of American prosperity and reviving our beloved economy," Trump said. "The miners told me about the attacks on their jobs. I made them this promise. We will put our miners back to work."

Scott Pruitt, the EPA administrator, said in an interview on ABC News on Sunday that the order will help the United States "be both pro-jobs and pro-environment."

Throughout his campaign, Trump highlighted his support of coal miners, holding multiple rallies in coal country and vowing to restore lost jobs to the flagging industry. At a rally last week in Kentucky, Trump vowed that his executive order would "save our wonderful coal miners from continuing to be put out of work."

While coal-mining jobs have dropped in the United States, they do not represent a significant portion of the U.S. economy. Coal companies employed about 65,971 miners in 2015, down from 87,755 in 2008, according to Energy Department statistics.

"These actions are vital to the American coal industry, to our survival, and to getting some of our coal families back to work," said Robert Murray, the chief executive of Murray Energy, one of the nation's largest coal-mining companies. Murray, a donor to Trump's presidential campaign, stood behind the president as he signed the order.

But Murray conceded that he did not expect Trump's order to return coal-mining numbers to their former strength. "I really don't know how far the coal industry can be brought back," he said.

Trump's directive also eliminates about a half-dozen of Obama's smaller executive orders and memorandums related to combating climate change.

For example, Trump's order requires White House economists to recalculate a budgeting metric known as the social cost of carbon, which under the Obama administration limited pollution by arguing that global warming outweighed economic benefits for industries. The order also eliminates a requirement that federal agencies consider the effect on climate change when analyzing all future environmental permits.

Combined, the measures might ensure that the United States' emissions of planet-warming pollution remain too high to meet the terms of the Paris climate accord.

The aim of the Paris deal is to reduce emissions enough to stave off a warming of the planet by more than 2 degrees Celsius, or about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, from preindustrial levels. That rise in temperature is the level at which, experts say, the earth will be irrevocably locked into a future of extreme droughts, flooding and shortages of food and water. </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Can coal make a comeback under Trump?

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order rolling back Obama-era rules aimed at curbing climate change.

The president said this would put an end to the "war on coal" and "job-killing regulations".

The Energy Independence Executive Order suspends more than half a dozen measures enacted by his predecessor, and boosts fossil fuels.

Business groups have praised the Trump administration's move but environmental campaigners have condemned it.

Outside the White House, a few hundred protesters gathered to vent their displeasure at the executive order.

Inside, the president was flanked by coal miners as he signed the order, saying: "My administration is putting an end to the war on coal.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption US President Trump said he would cancel "job-killing regulations"

"With today's executive action I am taking historic steps to lift the restrictions on American energy, to reverse government intrusion and to cancel job-killing regulations."

During the campaign, he vowed to pull the US out of the Paris climate deal agreed in December 2015.

What is Mr Trump's order changing?

President Trump takes a very different approach to the environment from Mr Obama. The former president argued that climate change was "real and cannot be ignored".

Among the initiatives now rescinded is the Clean Power Plan, which required states to slash carbon emissions, to meet US commitments under the Paris accord.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Mr Trump says that the US will no longer wage war on coal

The regulation has been unpopular in Republican-run states, where it has been subject to legal challenges - especially from businesses that rely on burning oil, coal and gas.

Last year the Supreme Court temporarily halted the plan, while the challenges are heard.

The Trump administration says that scrapping the plan will put people to work and reduce America's reliance on imported fuel.

It says the president will be "moving forward on energy production in the US".

"The previous administration devalued workers with their policies. We can protect the environment while providing people with work."

During the president's maiden visit to the Environmental Protection Agency, he signed the Energy Independence Executive Order, which cuts EPA regulations in order to support Mr Trump's plan of cutting the agency's budget by a third.

He recently appointed climate change sceptic Scott Pruitt as its new head.

Trump's 'control-alt-delete' on climate change policy

Trump: The best thing ever for climate change?

What will the impact be?

Matt McGrath, BBC environment correspondent

This order signed by President Trump is both a practical and a philosophical attempt to change the US narrative on climate change.

His supporters say it will create thousands of jobs in the liberated oil and gas industries. His opponents agree the new order will be a job creator - but they'll be jobs for lawyers, not in the coal fields.

Front and centre is practical action on the Clean Power Plan (CPP), the Obama project to cut fossil fuels from energy production. Although it has long been tied up in the courts, the new administration will leave it to fester there while they come up with a much weaker replacement.

There will also be new, less restrictive rules on methane emissions from the oil and gas industry and more freedom to sell coal leases from federal lands.

President Trump is signalling a significant change in the widely held philosophy that CO2 is the enemy, the main driver of climate change.

US environmentalists are aghast but also enraged. They will be queuing up to go to court. But in many ways that's playing into the hands of President Trump and the fossil fuel lobby.

"Delay is what they want," one green source told me, "delay is winning."

Read Matt's piece in full

Will the US honour its commitments under the Paris climate deal?

While campaigning for the presidency, Mr Trump argued that the agreement was unfair to the US.

The landmark agreement commits governments to moving their economies away from fossil fuels and reducing carbon emissions to try to contain global temperature rise.

Mr Trump has in the past said climate change had been "created by and for the Chinese".

Image copyright AP Image caption Reducing emissions from coal-fired power plants was a key part of America's commitment in the Paris climate deal

But at the end of last year, he acknowledged that there was "some connectivity" between human activity and climate change.

It is now unclear where exactly the US stands in relation to the deal.

Whatever the US chooses, the EU, India and China say they will stick to their pledges made in Paris.

What has been the reaction?

The president's order will be resisted by environmentalists, who have promised to challenge it in the courts.

Image copyright AP Image caption Campaigning groups are scathing of the president's environment policies

"These actions are an assault on American values and they endanger the health, safety and prosperity of every American," billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer was quoted by Reuters as saying.

"I think it is a climate destruction plan in place of a climate action plan," the Natural Resources Defense Council's David Doniger told the BBC, adding that they will fight the president in court.

Another green group, Earthjustice, said it would challenge the measure in and out of court.

"This order ignores the law and scientific reality," its President Trip Van Noppen said.

World v Trump on global climate deal?

Trump team moving away from supporters on climate science

Does Trump believe in climate change?

Tara McKelvey, BBC White House reporter

Yes - at least according to a senior aide.

When asked whether the president believes in man-made climate change, the aide said "sure", adopting a matter-of-fact tone.

This marks a shift. In 2015 the president said that climate change was a "hoax".

By November 2016, the president had softened his position on the matter, saying he saw "some connectivity" between man and climate change.

Now the president has gone further - at least, according to his aide.

The president, a one-time climate-change denier, now believes, that climate change is real - and that humans are behind it. </s> Former President Barack Obama said on Thursday that the cities and businesses of the United States should step up to reduce greenhouse gases after President Donald Trump announced that America would withdraw from the Paris climate change accord.

The mayor of Pittsburgh, pushing back on Trump's statement that he was elected to represent the citizens of that former steel-making giant rather than those of Paris, condemned the withdrawal.

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk immediately announced he will quit presidential advisory councils. Disney CEO Bob Iger said he was out, too. General Electric Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said "Climate change is real. Industry must now lead and not depend on government."

"The United States joins Syria, Nicaragua & Russia in deciding not to participate with world's Paris Agreement. It's now up to cities to lead," Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, a Democrat, said on Twitter.

Trump said at an announcement at the Rose Garden on Thursday that the United States would withdraw from the international agreement negotiated under Obama, citing a desire to protect American jobs and fuel what he has claimed would be three percent economic growth.

Related: What It Means That Trump Is Leaving the Paris Climate Agreement

Because Obama didn't ask the Senate for approval of the Paris accord, Trump can act unilaterally without the consent of Congress. Democrats, however, could slow down any action on the floor in retaliation of the decision and tie any pending nominations to the issue, actions that won't change the outcome but frustrate Republicans and the White House.

Obama said in a statement that a withdrawal means an abdication of American leadership.

"The nations that remain in the Paris Agreement will be the nations that reap the benefits in jobs and industries created. I believe the United States of America should be at the front of the pack," Obama said in the statement.

"But even in the absence of American leadership; even as this Administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future; I'm confident that our states, cities, and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way, and help protect for future generations the one planet we've got," Obama said.

Related: California and Other States Step Into the Climate Policy Void

Reaction on Capitol Hill was mostly partisan, with Republicans standing by the president's decision, praising the U.S.'s withdrawal as good for the economy. "President Trump has once again put families and jobs ahead of left-wing ideology and should be commended for his action," Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said.

But some Republicans in Congress opposed Trump's move. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said on Twitter: "Climate change requires a global approach. I'm disappointed in the President's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement."

Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Florida, who is expected to have a tough re-election in his swing district in south Florida, lobbed a series of tweets in opposition.

Trump had pledged on the campaign trail to withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate accord, which is a non-binding agreement that asks that all signing countries — rich and poor — take concrete steps to reduce their carbon emissions in the face of climate change.

The Obama administration pledged a 26 to 28 percent cut in U.S. emissions, which Republicans have criticized for potentially having a negative impact on the American economy and its energy sector.

Former Sectary of State John Kerry said on MSNBC that the move to withdraw from the Paris deal was "an extraordinary abdication of American leadership."

He noted that the program was voluntary, and the United States was not forced to do anything under the accord.

"It was a voluntary program. We designed the program," Kerry said. "The president was not truthful with the American people today, and the president who talked about putting 'America first' has now put America last."

Withdrawing from the climate deal could take three years, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said this week.

And French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Premier Paolo Gentiloni said in a joint statement Thursday that they take note "with regret" the U.S. decision to pull out of the 2015 agreement.

The three leaders say they regard the accord as "a cornerstone in the cooperation between our countries, for effectively and timely tackling climate change."

They added that the course charted by the accord is "irreversible and we firmly believe that the Paris Agreement cannot be renegotiated."

Macron, Merkel and Gentiloni say they remain committed to the deal and will "step up efforts" to support the poorest and most threatened nations.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric called Trump's decision a "major disappointment for global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote global security."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday "We are deeply disappointed that the United States federal government has decided to withdraw from the Paris Agreement" and said Canada is committed to fighting climate change.

Trump on Thursday left open the possibility of renegotiating what he called a better deal that would put American taxpayers first, and suggested the climate deal was a ruse that put the United States at a competitive disadvantage.

"The agreement is a massive redistribution of United States wealth to other countries," Trump said.

Former President Bill Clinton said on Twitter: "Walking away from Paris treaty is a mistake. Climate change is real. We owe our children more. Protecting our future also creates more jobs."

And Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said in his first tweet from a verified account that "Today's decision is a setback for the environment and for the U.S.'s leadership position in the world," adding the hashtag #ParisAgreement.

The governors of New York, California, and Washington state said in a statement that they would form a "United States Climate Alliance" which they called "a coalition that will convene U.S. states committed to upholding the Paris Climate Agreement and taking aggressive action on climate change."

A speaker at a protest near the White House called the move "treason" and the crowd chanted "lock him up," a play off of Trump supporters' chants targeting Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign.

Trump's announced withdrawal from the climate deal was not unexpected. On Wednesday in a tweet in which Trump said he would announce his decision on Thursday, the president ended with his signature phrase: "Make America great again." </s> (ABC NEWS) -- A senior White House official told ABC News that the President is poised to drop out of the Paris climate accord.

Trump has repeatedly called into question the science behind climate change, once calling it a "very expensive hoax." During his campaign, Trump said he would "cancel" the Paris agreement and his administration has ordered cuts to funding for climate science.

The non-binding international agreement went into effect last year and calls for countries to set goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The agreement was signed by former Secretary of State John Kerry on Earth Day, April 22, 2016 on the U.S. behalf. President Obama signed it into law via executive action, bypassing the then Republican-controlled Senate.

What is the Paris Climate Agreement?

The Paris Agreement is an accord sponsored by the U.N. designed to help slow global climate change. The 147 parties who ratified the convention set a goal of limiting global temperatures increases this century to no more than 2 degrees Celsius, or 35.6 degrees Farenheit, above levels from the pre-industrial era, defined as the years 1850-1900. It also states an intention to work toward a more stringent limit of only 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 34.7 degrees Farenheit, above pre-industrial era levels.

After the conference, each country set its own "Nationally Determined Contributions" (NDCs) and agreed to report its progress regularly on decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. To remain in the deal, the U.S. must cut its emissions by 26 percent from 2005 levels by 2025.

Where do members of the Trump administration stand on the agreement?

Throughout his campaign for the presidency, Trump said he would roll back environmental protections and regulations and threatened to "cancel" the deal.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said The Paris Agreement is bad for America because it’s bad for jobs. However, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the former chief executive of Exxon, said he supports staying in the deal. White House adviser Ivanka Trump set up a review process to make sure her father received information from experts in both the public and private sectors before making a decision on the agreement.

What are the consequences of withdrawing?

If the U.S. pulls out of The Paris Agreement, it would become one of the largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions not included in the agreement, according to EPA data. The United States would become one of only three nations in a U.N. climate group not to be signed onto the deal, alongside Syria and Nicaragua.

“The Paris agreement was designed to be flexible so that parties could respond to changing domestic circumstances,” Andrew Light, a distinguished senior fellow at the World Resources Institute told ABC News. Light said that the Trump administration could face fallout if it withdraws from the agreement.

“It could potentially harm U.S. businesses who are trying to compete with businesses from other countries in the exploding global market in renewable energy,” Light told ABC News. He went on to explain that withdrawal could look like “Trump is turning his back on the world” by walking away from the spirit of global cooperation that the Paris accord created.

State and religious leaders have expressed desire for Trump to continue U.S. participation in the agreement. The Pope gave Trump copies of his published works on climate change as a parting gift following their meeting on May 24, which some read as an encouragement toward the Paris accord.

Although the official cautions no decision is final until the president announces it, the source said the White House is now working on how to roll out and explain the reasons behind that announcement.

ABC News' Jonathan Karl, Conor Ferguson, Catherine Thorbecke, Michael Edison Hayden and Evan Simon contributed to this report.
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