Donald Trump will pull the US, the world’s second-largest climate polluter, out of the most important global treaty for tackling climate change for the second time.
The decision would place the United States alongside Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only countries in the world outside the landmark global 2015 pact to limit global warming.
Mr Trump also withdrew the US from the Paris deal during his first term, but it was reversed by Joe Biden on his first day in office.
Last month, the UK’s climate envoy warned Paris was “more fragile than ever” due to countries disagreeing over whether the agreement goes too far – or not far enough.
The withdrawal, which will take one year to come into effect, is one in a blitz of measures designed to exploit every last drop of oil and gas from US soil – something Mr Biden somewhat tempered, though he still oversaw record oil production.
President Trump says the moves will lower prices and inflation.
In another executive order he pledged to “unleash America’s affordable and reliable energy and natural resources”, which would “restore American prosperity”.
The new president is also expected to scrap other environmental regulations and cut off green technology subsidies that formed part of Mr Biden’s landmark green legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Dr Rachel Cleetus from the Union of Concerned Scientists called the withdrawal from Paris a “travesty” and “abdication of responsibility”.
“Such a move is in clear defiance of scientific realities and shows an administration cruelly indifferent to the harsh climate change impacts that people in the United States and around the world are experiencing,” she said.
Members of the climate movement put a brave face on, saying the global climate fight continues regardless.
Laurence Tubiana, who spearheaded the Paris Agreement and now runs the European Climate Foundation, called the withdrawal “unfortunate”.
“But multilateral climate action has proven resilient, and is stronger than any single country’s politics and policies.”
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The COP29 climate conference in November was the first test of global climate action after it had been rocked by Mr Trump’s election, and managed to scrape through.
The context today is also “very different” to the last time President Trump withdrew America from the agreement in 2017, added Ms Tubiana.
Momentum behind the global switch to clean energy is gathering pace, and the market for clean technologies is expected to triple by 2035, according to the International Energy Agency.
Simon Stiell, the UN climate chief who oversees the Paris Agreement, said ignoring the clean energy boom “only sends all that vast wealth to competitor economies, while climate disasters like droughts, wildfires and superstorms keep getting worse, destroying property and businesses, hitting nation-wide food production, and driving economy-wide price inflation”.
The US Climate Alliance, a bi-partisan alliance of more than 20 state governors, vowed to carry on pursuing climate goals set by the outgoing Mr Biden.
“We will continue America’s work to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and slash climate pollution,” said the governors of New York and New Mexico, Kathy Hochul and Michelle Lujan Grisham.
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
Image: The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
Image: The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Image: Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Image: Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
Image: The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
Image: The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.