​Physicist Stephen Hawking warned ​that ​President Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement​ could lead to irreversible damage and turn Earth into Venus​.​

“We are close to the tipping point where global warming becomes irreversible. Trump’s action could push the Earth over the brink, to become like Venus, with a temperature of ​250 degrees, and raining sulphuric acid,” ​Hawking said in an interview with BBC News​ that aired Sunday.

​Hawking, whose theories of black holes changed the way scientists view the cosmos, said climate change is one of the “great dangers” the world faces but one that can still be prevented by quick action.

​”​By denying the evidence for climate change, and pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, Donald Trump will cause avoidable environmental damage to our beautiful planet, endangering the natural world, for us and our children​,​”​ said Hawking, who has motor neurone disease and is confined to a wheelchair.

Trump announced the US would withdraw from the accord, which seeks to lower carbon dioxide emissions worldwide, during a White House ceremony on June 1.

He said the pact’s regulations put the US at an “economic disadvantage.”