US on track to meet climate targets despite Trump: UN chief

The United States is on track to meet the targets of the Paris climate agreement despite President Donald Trump's plan to withdraw from the accord, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said today.

Guterres said emissions-cutting plans put in motion by American businesses, regional governments and cities meant that the goals set by the former US administration which signed the deal in 2016 were within reach.

"We have seen in the cities, and we have seen in many states, a very strong commitment to the Paris agreement, to the extent that some indicators are moving even better than in the recent past," Guterres told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.

"There are expectations that, independently of the position of the administration, the US might be able to meet the commitments made in Paris as a country."
Describing climate change as "the most systemic threat to humankind," Guterres said recent data on extreme weather events showed that "2017 was filled with climate chaos."
"Food security, health, stability itself all hang in the balance."