NEW YORK If the United States withdraws from the Paris Agreement, rivals such as China, Russia and Iran will fill the void left in the clean energy economy and climate action, United Nations Secretary-General Antnio Guterres warned on Tuesday.

In a speech at New York University, Guterres, who became the ninth U.N. chief in January, said countries that isolate themselves and fail to address climate change make their citizens less safe in an age when conflicts are increasingly global. He pointed to terrorism like the bombing in Manchester, England, this month as an example of such conflicts.

If one country decides to leave a void, I can guarantee someone else will occupy it, Guterres said. If you leave a void for others to occupy, you might be creating a problem to your own internal security.

Its not only the Russias and the Chinas that are occupying the ground, you get the Saudi Arabias, the Turkeys, the Irans, he added. The regional powers in many parts of the world, when the big powers leave some space, they will occupy it, which means sometimes absence has consequences.

President Donald Trump vowed to pull out of the accord during his campaign last year, and appears to be leaning toward an exit. On Saturday, he announced on Twitter that he would make a final decision this week after completing his first summit with the Group of 7 most industrialized nations, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom. White House officials stressed that, despite having months to deliberate, the president had not yet decided.

But on Saturday night, Axios reported that the president told confidants he was preparing to pull out of the accord. Trump met with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, a staunch advocate of leaving the accord, on Tuesday to discuss his plans, signaling yet another death knell for U.S. participation.

Quitting the pact would make the U.S. one of just three countries, including Syria and Nicaragua, outside the agreement.