US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order rolling back Obama-era rules aimed at curbing climate change.

The president said this would put an end to the “war on coal” and “job-killing regulations”, reports the BBC.

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

Business groups have praised the Trump administration’s move but environmental campaigners have condemned it.

Outside the White House, a few hundred protesters gathered to vent their displeasure at the executive order.

Inside, the president was flanked by coal miners as he signed the order, saying: “My administration is putting an end to the war on coal.”

“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.”

During the campaign, he vowed to pull the US out of the Paris climate deal agreed in December 2015.

BDST: 1057 HRS, MAR 29, 2017
SR