President Donald Trump has once again vowed to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement and prioritize fossil fuel extraction and mineral mining.

A two-page memo from the White House stated he would sign an executive order to make it official.

This announcement comes as climate change-fueled wildfires ravage Southern California, with global temperatures in 2024 surpassing 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for the first time in a calendar year.

Although the Paris agreement is not legally binding, it serves as a crucial framework for global cooperation to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The US will have to wait a year before it will be officially out of the pact.

The Trump administration previously withdrew from the Paris accord in 2017, but this was promptly reversed on President Joe Biden's first day in office in 2021.

In a speech, Trump also pledged to usher in a new era of oil and gas exploration.

"The inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices," Trump said. "That’s why today I will also declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill."

"We will bring prices down, fill our strategic reserves up again, right to the top, and export American energy all over the world," he told the audience.

"We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it."

Trump also promised to end the "green new deal", a reference to the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden's signature climate policy that channelled billions into clean energy.

The president said he will also cancel efforts to boost ownership of electric vehicles, what he terms the Biden "EV mandate", and he will strengthen efforts to save the US car industry.

His pronouncements drew criticism from environmental groups and other Paris Agreement signatories.

"Embracing (the global clean energy boom) will mean massive profits, millions of manufacturing jobs and clean air. Ignoring it 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," said Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the U.N. Climate Change agency.

"The door remains open to the Paris Agreement, and we welcome constructive engagement from any and all countries."

Ali Mohamed, Chair of the African Group of Negotiators and Kenya's Special Envoy for Climate Change, emphasized the critical role of the U.S. in mobilizing climate finance and advancing clean energy initiatives.

"The African Group underscores its belief that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and other international platforms remain the most effective avenues for fostering collaboration and accountability," he said. #