The New York Times reports:

The Trump administration is preparing the formal withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change, according to three people briefed on the matter, a long expected move that nevertheless remains a powerful signal to the world.

The official action sets in motion a withdrawal that still would take a year to complete under the rules of the accord. Abandoning the landmark 2015 agreement in which nearly 200 nations vowed to reduce planet warming emissions would fulfill one of President Trump’s key campaign promises while placing the world’s largest economy at odds with the rest of the globe on a top international policy priority.

“I withdrew the United States from the terrible, one-sided climate accord, was a total disaster for our country,” he told a crowd of cheering men and women in hard hats on Wednesday at a natural gas conference in Pittsburgh.

Mr. Trump gave no indication that he understood the intricacies of withdrawal or what his administration has planned for the coming days. Instead, he sounded as if the United States was already out of the accord.

“I thought when I did that it would be very tough, and all I do is get applauded for that move,” Mr. Trump said.

A spokesman for the State Department declined to say whether the agency has drafted its notice to the United Nations that will start the yearlong clock before the United States can officially separate itself from the global effort to curb global warming.

But in a statement the agency said, “The U.S. position on the Paris Agreement has not changed. The United States intends to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.”

Under the rules of the Paris Agreement, Nov. 4 is the earliest date on which the Trump administration can submit a written notice to the United Nations that it is withdrawing. It would go into effect exactly one year later. That could make the yearlong countdown a central issue in the coming presidential campaign.

The Paris Agreement is essentially a collection of voluntary emissions-slashing pledges from about 200 nations. Countries are not legally bound to meet their targets, but they are supposed to report their progress to the United Nations.

The United States under the Obama administration pledged to cut emissions about 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. Mr. Trump has previously said his administration will no longer work toward that target, and the State Department has failed for more than two years to submit documents showing what the United States is doing to reduce emissions. [Continue reading…]