Donald Trump's advisers are exploring alternatives to bypass the four-year waiting period to back out from the Paris agreement, a member of the transition team told Reuters.

The options include withdrawing from the parent treaty, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, entirely or issuing a presidential order to delete the U.S. signature from the climate deal.

Before leaving for Marrakech on Sunday, Sec. of State John Kerry said that the Obama administration would do everything possible to implement the global agreement before Trump takes office.

In an interview, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Europe should respond with a trade war and institute a carbon tax for U.S. products if Trump backs out.

Backing out of the Paris agreement isn't the only anti-environment plan Trump has been touting. He has also said he wants to dismantle the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and revoke the Clean Power Plan.

Trump's man-in-charge of leading the transition at the EPA is Myron Ebell, a known climate denier who opposes the Clean Power Plan and advocates for opening up more federal lands to logging, coal mining and oil drilling.



He is a director at fossil-fuel-funded Competitive Enterprise Institute and leads the Cooler Heads Coalition, which focuses on "dispelling the myths of global warming."

One scholar points out that Trump's attempts to weaken the EPA are reminiscent of Reagan's appointment of Anne Gorsuch Burford to head the agency, whose attempts to dismantle EPA in the early 1980s resulted in heavy criticism and pushback.

For a deeper dive:

Trump: Reuters, The Hill, ThinkProgress, Guardian, Slate, Bloomberg, New York Times

Kerry: AP, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Mashable, VOA News

Commentary: Guardian editorial

Myron Ebell: Washington Post, New York Times, Undark, Cosmopolitan

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