The withdrawal will hurt the US the most, because the country will lose political credibility in the fight against climate change. The exit will isolate the country returning it to environmentally unacceptable and obsolete times of fossil energy, the Government Communication Office said in a press release on Friday.

"As part of the EU and the coalition of ambitious and environmentally proactive countries of the world, Slovenia will continue to follow the path set down in the Paris Agreement even more determinedly in these new conditions," reads the release.

The office believes that the process of ratification will be sped up by the US exit. The exit itself is not a hurdle on the determined path of the world to the new paradigm of sustainable development.

"Only this path ensures an environmentally stable planet, welfare and green jobs for all of us and for future generations. This is an irreversible path and at the same time we have moral responsibility to follow it. All countries of the world will continue to invite the US to join us on this path."

Regret was also expressed by the Slovenian Foreign Ministry, which said that "fresh negotiations on the climate agreement could prevent an efficient global response to the negative consequences of dynamic climate change we are witnessing".

The ministry deems the Paris Climate Agreement a historic response to contemporary climate challenges in a effort to secure a low-carbon, sustainable and climate change-resilient future. It said the agreement was an instrument of vital importance for the planet, people and our economies.

"Together with other signatories Slovenia will work for the full implementation of the agreement and remains committed to its goals," the ministry said, calling on the US to stay among the leading countries in addressing environmental challenges, and other countries to strengthen their efforts in the fight against climate change.

Parliamentary Spaker Milan Brglez meanwhile said he wished the US decision-makers reconsidered their move - "not only for the benefit of the present but for the benefit of the future and a better world for all the people".

"As the speaker of the National Assembly and as a citizen who cares about the environment, cohabitation and social responsibility, I deeply regret the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement from 2015," he said in a press release.

The international environmental organisation Greenpeace condemned Trump's decision as "morally bankrupt", saying that the withdrawal from the global climate deal "will turn America from a global climate leader into a flat earth society of one".

The head of the Slovenian chapter of the organisation, Nina Štros, warned the Slovenian government of its own commitments to the climate deal. She said that the country's energy concept would show whether the government planned to set on the path of climate leaders and meet the expectations of its citizens.

"Abiding by the Paris Agreement must be reflected in the state's energy strategy which should set out clearly the path to abandon on time fossil fuels, starting with coal," said Štros.

She added that pointing the finger at the US would be too easy, because each country must contribute its share. "Slovenia too has ratified the Paris Agreement, but our leader still does not take it seriously."

"The Slovenian government thinks it is possible to burn coal in TEŠ until mid-century, while our passivity will be compensated indefinitely by the forests and other countries," she said in a reference to the Šoštanj coal-fired power station.