Former US President Barack Obama lamented the decision of President Donald Trump to withdraw from the Paris climate accord saying the deal was meant to "protect the world we leave to our children."

Accusing Trump for "rejecting the future" by pulling out of the Paris climate deal, the former president warned that the US would risk missing out on the economic benefits of being a part of the Paris agreement, CNN reported.

Obama's office released the statement in the middle of Trump's Rose Garden announcement that the US would be withdrawing from the landmark climate pact.

"The nations that remain in the Paris Agreement will be the nations that reap the benefits in jobs and industries created," read the statement.

Adding, "This Administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future."

Obama said the US "should be at the front of the pack" when it came to lowering emissions and developing green technology.

"For the nations that committed themselves to that future, the Paris Agreement opened the floodgates for businesses, scientists, and engineers to unleash high-tech, low-carbon investment and innovation on an unprecedented scale," he said.

President Donald Trump announced his decision to withdraw the US from the Paris climate accord, a sweeping step that fulfills a campaign promise while seriously dampening global efforts to curb global warming.

He said the deal "hamstrings" America by giving foreign nations an "economic edge", adding, "that's not going to happen".

While Italy, France and Germany have issued collective statement regretting President Donald Trump 's decision of United States quitting from the Paris climate accord and dismissed his suggestion that the global pact could be renegotiated.

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