Joe Biden says he will rejoin the Paris climate agreement on the first day of his presidency if he wins the election

• Joe Biden said he would rejoin the Paris climate agreement on his first day as president if he is elected.
• "Today, the Trump Administration officially left the Paris Climate Agreement. And in exactly 77 days, a Biden Administration will rejoin it," Biden tweeted.
• The US formally withdrew from the landmark climate agreement on Wednesday, after Trump announced his intention to pull out in 2017.
• Biden is closing in on a win in the US presidential election, but key states had yet to announce results as of Thursday morning.

Joe Biden pledged to rejoin the Paris climate accord, the landmark climate-change agreement from which President Donald Trump formally withdrew the US, on his first day as president should he win the election.

Biden has edged toward securing the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency, but results from key states including Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Arizona had not been announced as of Thursday morning.

But Biden's campaign has expressed confidence about a victory and even launched a transition website on Wednesday.

And in a further sign of confidence, Biden on Wednesday evening tweeted: "Today, the Trump Administration officially left the Paris Climate Agreement. And in exactly 77 days, a Biden Administration will rejoin it."

The Paris accord is a commitment made in 2015 by some of the largest economies to keeping a global temperature rise under 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by the end of the century.

In 2017, Trump announced his plan to withdraw the US from the Paris accord, claiming that the agreement "disadvantages the United States" and could cost nearly 3 million jobs by 2025.

Trump, who has consistently questioned the validity of the scientific consensus on climate change, said in the presidential debate last month that he would not help the climate at the cost of US business.

Biden, meanwhile, made tackling climate change an important part of his presidential campaign, outlining a $1.7 trillion plan to invest in clean-energy infrastructure over 10 years.