Paris Agreement to Survive Despite US Possible Withdrawal – Rosatom Chief

ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) – On Wednesday, media reported that US President Donald Trump had decided to withdraw the United States from the Paris agreement.

"My personal assessment is that the Paris climate agreement will survive, world’s major [energy] actors will follow these rules and within three to four years we will see big programs on making countries’ energy balance more eco-friendly," Likhachev said at The Role of Nuclear in the Green Energy Mix panel session of SPIEF.

The CEO added that even if the United States decided to withdraw from the deal, the decision would be "temporary".

The Paris climate deal, established within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and championed by former US President Barack Obama, was signed in 2015 by 194 countries and ratified by over 140 states. The agreement aims at keeping the increase in average global temperature at below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

SPIEF, held in Russia's second largest city of St. Petersburg between Thursday and Saturday, is a major global platform for communication between business representatives and discussion of crucial economic issues. The Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency is the official media partner of the forum.

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