Trump scraps Obama’s climate change policies

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that rolls back rules brought in by Barack Obama aimed at curbing climate change.

The Energy Independence Executive Order suspends more than six measures enacted by his predecessor, and boosts fossil fuels.

Flanked by coal miners as he signed the order, Trump said the move would put an end to the "war on coal" and "job-killing regulations".

"With today's executive action I am taking historic steps to lift the restrictions on American energy, to reverse government intrusion and to cancel job-killing regulations,” he said.

Among the initiatives now rescinded by Trump’s executive order is the Clean Power Plan, which required states to slash carbon emissions so as to meet US commitments under the Paris climate deal agreed in December 2015. The landmark deal commits governments to moving their economies away from fossil fuels and reducing carbon emissions to try to contain global temperature rises

However, it has proven unpopular in Republican-run states, where it has been subject to legal challenges - especially from businesses that rely on burning oil, coal and gas. Last year, Supreme Court temporarily halted the plan, while the challenges are heard.

Trump said that the agreement was unfair to the US and has in the past said that climate change has been “created by and for the Chinese”. This is in clear contrast with Obama, who warned that climate change was "real and cannot be ignored".

His executive order has been condemned by environmentalists, who have promised to challenge it in the courts.

“These actions are an assaults on American values and they endanger the health, safety and prosperity of every American,” billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Green group Earthjustice said it would challenge the measure in an our of court, with its President Trip Van Noppen arguing that it “ignores the law and scientific reality”.