In a highly anticipated move, newly inaugurated President Donald Trump confirmed plans to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, as part of a new policy described by the White House as aimed at “ending Biden’s policies of climate extremism.”

The move marks the second time that President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the landmark international climate accord, having done so late in his first term. The U.S. returned to the Paris Agreement shortly afterward, with President Biden signing an executive order to rejoin the accord on his first day in office.

As part of a series of executive orders signed following the inauguration, Trump ordered the U.S. ambassador to the UN “to immediately submit formal written notification of the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,” adding that the U.S. will consider the withdrawal of its obligations under the accord to be effective as soon as the UN notification is given.

The Paris Agreement is a multi-nation pact developed by parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to combat climate change. The agreement’s main goal is to limit the global temperature increase in this century to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and to work toward limiting the increase to 1.5 degrees. A vast majority of countries have signed onto the agreement, and the U.S. is the only country to have withdrawn.

The announcement forms part of a series of actions by the new Trump administration to reverse key aspects of President Biden’s climate agenda, with Trump specifically calling out plans to “revoke the electric vehicle mandate” in his inauguration speech. In August 2021, President Biden signed an executive order setting a target for zero emissions vehicles – including battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, and fuel cell electric – to make up half of new vehicle sales in the U.S. by 2030.

Trump’s speech also referenced plans to “end the Green New Deal,” likely a reference to Biden’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act, which allocated nearly $270 billion through a series of tax credits, loans, grants and subsidies to areas including renewable energy and industrial decarbonization solutions.

Trump also announced plans to “end leasing to massive wind farms,” and to “unleash American energy,” reiterating his campaign promise to “drill, baby, drill.”

In his inauguration speech, Trump stated:

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