U.S. President Donald Trump is likely to withdraw the nation from the Paris Agreement on climate change, local media reports said.
As per the reports, the Trump administration is working on how to roll out the decision.
Trump on Tuesday met Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, who is in favour of withdrawal from the Paris Accord and will meet Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday, the CNN reported.
Tillerson is in favour of remaining in the deal.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned United States that quitting the Paris climate agreement could threaten the country's economic, security and societal status.
His remarks at New York University's Stern School of Business came at a time when the world waits for Trump to announce whether the country will continue to uphold the Paris deal, which nearly 200 countries signed as a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Trump had delayed his decision on the Paris Climate Accord, saying that he will make his final decision on it next week.
More From This Section
"I will make my final decision on the Paris Accord next week," Trump tweeted.
Signed a little more than year ago by 195 nations, the Paris deal is meant to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and is seen as one of former President Barack Obama's biggest triumphs.
But Trump, pushing a renewed commitment to fossil fuels, heavily criticized the agreement throughout the 2016 campaign.
A formal withdrawal would take three years, but that could be expedited if the U.S. pulls out of an underlying UN treaty.
Last week, more than 20 Republican senators, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, sent a letter to Trump asking him to leave the Paris Climate Agreement.
Meanwhile, Democrats are urging Trump not to withdraw from the agreement.
The exit of the United States after China would apparently weaken the strength of the deal and make the way for other countries to withdraw from it.
The Paris Agreement is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse gases emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020.
The language of the agreement was negotiated by representatives of 195 countries at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in Paris and adopted by consensus on 12 December 2015.
As of May 2017, 195 UNFCCC members have signed the treaty, 147 of which have ratified it.
After several European Union states ratified the agreement in October 2016, there were enough countries that had ratified the agreement that produce enough of the world's greenhouse gases for the agreement to enter into force.
The agreement went into effect on November 4, 2016.