US officially leaves Paris Climate Agreement

WASHINGTON - The United States formally left the Paris Agreement on Wednesday, marking the only nation among nearly 200 signatories that abandoned this global agenda on combating climate change.

US President Donald Trump announced in June 2017 that his country would leave the Paris Agreement.

According to the agreement, its signatories can only formally request to quit the pact three years after it takes force, which falls upon Nov 4, 2019, and the withdrawal will take effect one year from delivery of the notification, meaning that the United States will formally pull out of the pact on Nov 4 this year.

Trump announced the withdrawal soon after he took office, citing concerns about the pact's threat to the US economy.

The Trump administration also rolled back environmental rules made in the Obama era to prop up the coal industry by allowing it to emit more greenhouse gases into the air.