22:37

The Guardian’s Emily Holden reports:

Donald Trump wrapped up his hour-long speech at a Pittsburgh natural gas industry conference without making any big announcements regarding the US withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement.

Trump vowed to exit the deal in June 2017, but he cannot officially do so until the day after the presidential election in 2020. The New York Times reported the administration is planning to send a letter beginning the process to formalize its withdrawal soon.

Emily Holden (@emilyhholden) I think he might forget to make this announcement/mention about beginning the formal process for withdrawing from the Paris #climate agreement?

Trump in his remarks effusively backed fossil fuels, attacking Democrats for making plans to cut the pollution causing the climate crisis, questioning whether they were doing so out of “stupidity” or “through evil”.



“Virtually every leading democrat has pledged to entirely eliminate fossil fuels, wiping out American production of oil, coal and natural gas, and by the way, jobs,” Trump said, to an enthusiastically supportive industry audience. “These Democrat plans would obliterate millions of American jobs, devastating communities across Pennsylvania and bankrupting families all across our nation.”

Most Democrats running for president have said they would aim to reach net-zero carbon pollution by 2050, which would not mean an immediate end to fossil fuels.



Trump also touted Shell’s “gigantic new petroleum plant, petrochemical plant”, which would turn fracked ethane into plastic.