Trump withdraws US from key climate treaty and dozens of other groups

US President Donald Trump has withdrawn the US from dozens of international organisations, including many that work to combat climate change.

Among the 66 groups, nearly half of them are bodies of the United Nations, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - a treaty that underpins all international efforts to combat global warming.

The White House said the decision was taken because those entities "no longer serve American interests" and promote "ineffective or hostile agendas".

Trump has already stripped many multilateral organisations he dislikes of funds and previously rejected the scientific consensus of man-made climate change as a "hoax".

The memorandum was signed on Wednesday after a review into causes that the White House said were "a waste of taxpayer dollars".