Energy & Environment

Pro-Paris agreement protest planned outside the White House Thursday

A Washington, D.C., environmental group is calling a last-minute protest on Thursday to oppose President Trump’s expected withdrawal from the Paris climate deal.

The protest, organized by 350 DC, was announced on Wednesday and is set to follow Trump’s announcement on Thursday of whether the U.S. will remain a party to the 195-nation agreement aimed at curbing the effects of climate change.

At the time of this writing, about 470 Facebook users had committed to going to the protest and more than 1,000 were “interested” in attending.

{mosads}Trump is reportedly leaning toward a withdrawal from the deal, a move that would signal the president’s strongest effort yet to unravel former President Barack Obama’s environmental policies.

“This decision sends a dangerous signal to the rest of the world that the United States doesn’t honor its commitments,” the Facebook event page for the protest reads. “The Paris Agreement was signed by 196 countries and is the backbone of international action to tackle the greatest challenge facing our civilization: climate change.”

At a meeting of the Group of Seven last week, Trump declined to pledge his support for the climate pact, breaking from the group’s other leaders and irking some, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who called climate talks with Trump “unsatisfying.”