Summary

  • Donald Trump withdraws the US from the Paris climate change pact

  • "In order to fulfil my solemn duty to protect America and its citizens, the United States will withdraw," he said

  • Trump said he may renegotiate a better deal but European countries said that won't happen

  • French president Emmanuel Macron says decision means US is 'turning its back on the world'

  • The US is the second biggest greenhouse gas emitter in the world after China

  • Greenpeace said this turns the US from climate leader to 'climate deadbeat'

Live Reporting

Flora Drury and Max Matza

  1. What exactly is the Paris agreement?

    Steam rises from the cooling towers of the coal power plant of RWE, one of Europe's biggest electricity and gas companies in Niederaussem, GermanyReuters

    President Trump's decision is seen as a key moment for the future success or failure of the Paris agreement, but what exactly is it?

    In essence, it is an agreement to:

    • Keep global temperatures "well below" 2.0C (3.6F) above pre-industrial times and "endeavour to limit" them even more, to 1.5C
    • Limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity to the same levels that trees, soil and oceans can absorb naturally, beginning at some point between 2050 and 2100
    • Review each country's contribution to cutting emissions every five years so they scale up to the challenge
    • Ensure rich countries help poorer nations by providing "climate finance" to adapt to climate change and switch to renewable energy.

    To read more about the agreement, click here.

  2. Why might he leave?

    Ivanka Trump listening while her father US President Donald Trump speaksaf

    President Trump has found himself pulled between two camps when making this decision.

    On the one side is his daughter Ivanka, who is said to have argued that the US should not pull out of the Paris pact.

    Then there is senior adviser Steve Bannon, who believes nixing the accord is in the economic interests of the US.

    And those are just the people inside the White House.

    BBC North America reporter Anthony Zurcher has been looking at the different forces at play in Trump's final decision.

  3. Will he stay or will he go?

    Donald Trump looks concernedReuters

    President Donald Trump's announcement on whether the US will stick with the 2015 Paris climate change accord is due at 15:00 local time (19:00 GMT).

    Whichever way this goes, it will anger those who regard the pact as a US job-killer, or those who believe climate change is man-made, including world leaders and the scientific community.

    Stay with us for all the latest.