INTRO
As an international meeting to work out the implementation of the Paris climate Agreement draws to a close in Germany (ends May 18th) - there's on-going concern about future US participation.
On the campaign trail Donald Trump vowed to pull the US out of the emissions-cutting deal but the White House says no decision will be made until the end of the month.
So what is the future of the pact amid this uncertainty?
Kate Fisher reports from Washington
IN: The world
OUT: SOC
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SCRIPT
VO: The world is warming up. Scientists say it's causing freak weather events, droughts and flooding and could lead to much worse in the future. But US President Donald Trump is sceptical of climate change and on the campaign trail he vowed to leave the Paris Agreement.
((Trump on campaign trail))
"We're going to cancel the Paris climate agreement"
VO: So if Trump keeps his promise - what does it mean for the future of the deal? Andrew Light of the World Resources Institute, one of the climate negotiators who worked with his predecessor, Barack Obama, on the Paris Agreement says he most fears other countries deciding to pull out.
"That this emboldens people in other countries to pull back from some of their commitments, seeing the U.S. is pulling back from its commitments. Especially given the role that the United States played this time around in getting this agreement after 20 years really of trying and failing.
I think at the end of the day though countries will stay in, so then I'm most afraid of what happens to the United States because I think that we will lose all of the influence and all of the goodwill that we built."
VO: And for the previous president it would be a lot more than that. Barack Obama made climate change a top priority and just last week was warning about the dangers of ignoring it at a food conference in Milan.
<<SOT: President Barack Obama>>
"For all the challenges that we face this is the one that will define the contours of this century more dramatically, perhaps, than any other. No nation, whether it is large or small, rich or poor, will be immune from the impacts of climate change. "
VO: As these protesters tried to tell Donald trump on his 100th day in office. The President may not agree but his Chinese counterpart is on board and if the American president pulls out of the Paris pact, Andrew Light says it would put the US's geopolitical rival at the helm of a major international agreement, leaving the US on the sidelines.
"China is the biggest emitter and they are also at this point the biggest investor in renewable energy in the world. The chinese have already said that they will step into any leadership gap created by the united states."
VO: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME, Erik Solheim also warns that the American people would lose out.
<<SOT: ERIK SOLHEIM, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME>>
"All the interesting, fascinating new green jobs will go to China and to other parts of the world who are investing heavily in this. Already at this point, there are only 70,000 jobs in the coal industry in the United States, 400,000 jobs in the solar, so there is no doubt where the future is and that is what all the private sector companies have understood."
But the President is still deciding what to do. His closest advisers are divided on the issue. Two meetings on the matter have been postponed and Trump's spokesman has said there won't be a decision until after the G7 meeting at the end of the month. Kate Fisher , Washington