AUSTRALIA'S lack of follow-through on climate change will leave the Great Barrier Reef "completely cooked" despite it signing the Paris climate deal, the Greens say.
Federal Environmental Minister Greg Hunt joined leaders from 170 other countries in New York to sign the Paris Agreement to limit global warming by at least two degrees.
Mr Hunt said Australia will beat its Kyoto emission reduction targets by 78 million tonnes and meet a 2030 target of reducing emissions by 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels.
"These are some of the highest targets anywhere in the world and certainly on a per capita basis we're right at the top," he told the ABC from New York today.
But Greens Senator Larissa Waters said Australia signing the agreement won't see it avoid warming of three to four degrees if it's not backed up by action.
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"Unfortunately, Minister Hunt likes to bandy about some figures but Australia has been a laughing stock on the international stage," she told the ABC.
"Our pollution reduction targets are so far below the science and people know that our policies aren't even getting us towards those very low targets."
Senator Waters rejected the government's commitment of a further $11 million on projects to continue improving water quality on the Great Barrier Reef following a study this week showing 93 per cent of the reef was bleached.
She pointed to the Queensland and Federal Government's backing of the Adani coal mine which critics say will further imperil the reef.
"We need to really have a change of policy when it comes to approving every coal mine anyone ever thinks of and instead really fund and support the transition and speed it up to clean-energy," Senator Waters said.
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| This undated handout photo released on April 20, 2016 by XL Catlin Seaview Survey shows a turtle swimming over bleached coral at Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef. Source: AFP |
US Secretary of State John Kerry, holding his young granddaughter, joined dozens of world leaders for a signing ceremony that set a record for international diplomacy: Never have so many countries signed an agreement on the first available day.
States that don't sign overnight have a year to do so.
"We are in a race against time," UN secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the gathering.
"The era of consumption without consequences is over."
Many now expect the climate agreement to enter into force long before the original deadline of 2020. Some say it could happen this year.
After signing, countries must formally approve the Paris Agreement through their domestic procedures.
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| US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks at the United Nations Signing Ceremony for the Paris Agreement climate change accord. Source: AFP |
The United Nations says 15 countries, several of them small island states under threat from rising seas, were doing that overnight by depositing their instruments of ratification.
China, the world's top carbon emitter, announced it will "finalise domestic procedures" to ratify the Paris Agreement before the G20 summit in China in September. Mr Ban immediately welcomed the pledge.
The United States also has said it intends to join the agreement this year.
The world is watching anxiously: Analysts say that if the agreement enters into force before US President Barack Obama leaves office in January, it would be more complicated for his successor to withdraw from the deal because it would take four years to do so under the agreement's rules.
The United States put the deal into economic terms.
"The power of this agreement is what it is going to do to unleash the private sector," Secretary Kerry told the gathering, noting that this year is again shaping up to be the hottest year on record.
Oscar-winning actor and environmental campaigner Leonardo DiCaprio urged leaders on, telling them: "The world is now watching".
"You will either be lauded by future generations or vilified by them," he said.
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| Leonardo DiCaprio speaks during the Paris Agreement For Climate Change Signing at the United Nations. Source: AFP |
DiCaprio urged world leaders to leave fossil fuels "in the ground where they belong" as he told them they are the "last best hope" for saving the planet from the disastrous effects of global warming.
The actor, who is a UN Messenger of Peace with a special focus on climate change, spoke shortly before the leaders began signing the Paris Agreement.
"We can congratulate each other today, but it will mean absolutely nothing" if you return to your countries and don't take action to implement the deal, DiCaprio said.
The agreement will enter into force once 55 countries representing at least 55 per cent of global emissions have formally joined it.
Maros Sefcovic, the energy chief for another top emitter, the 28-nation European Union, has said the EU wants to be in the "first wave" of ratifying countries.
French President Francois Hollande, the first to sign the agreement, said he will ask parliament to ratify it by this summer.
France's environment minister is in charge of global climate negotiations.
"There is no turning back now," Mr Hollande told the gathering.
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| Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signs the accord at the United Nations Signing Ceremony for the Paris Agreement climate change accord. Source: AFP |
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also announced that his country would ratify the agreement this year.
The climate ceremony brought together a wide range of states that on other issues might sharply disagree.
North Korea's foreign minister made a rare UN appearance to sign, and Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe brought applause when he declared, "Life itself is at stake in this combat. We have the power to win it."
Countries that had not yet indicated they would sign the agreement include some of the world's largest oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Nigeria and Kazakhstan, the World Resources Institute said.
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| Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe says life is at stake unless we do something about climate change. Source: AFP |
The Paris Agreement, the world's response to hotter temperatures, rising seas and other impacts of climate change, was reached in December as a major breakthrough in UN climate negotiations, which for years were slowed by disputes between rich and poor countries over who should do what.
Under the agreement, countries set their own targets for reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
The targets are not legally binding, but countries must update them every five years.
Already, states face pressure to do more. Scientific analyses show the initial set of targets that countries pledged before Paris don't match the agreement's long-term goal to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius, compared with pre-industrial times.
Global average temperatures have already climbed by almost 1 degree Celsius. Last year was the hottest on record.
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| Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff signs the accord at the United Nations Signing Ceremony for the Paris Agreement climate change accord. Source: AFP |
A separate analysis by Climate Action Tracker, a European group, projected warming of 2.7 degrees Celsius.
Either way, scientists say the consequences could be catastrophic in some places, wiping out crops, flooding coastal areas and melting Arctic sea ice.
"This is not a good deal for our island nations, at least not yet," the chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, Nauru President Baron Divavesi Waqa, told the gathering.
"The hardest work starts now."
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| US Secretary of State John Kerry holds his granddaughter for the signing of the accord at the United Nations Signing Ceremony for the Paris Agreement climate change accord. Source: AFP |
As the Paris Agreement moves forward, there is some good news. Global energy emissions, the biggest source of man-made greenhouse gases, were flat last year even though the global economy grew, according to the International Energy Agency.
Still, fossil fuels are used much more widely than renewable sources like wind and solar power.
Friday was chosen for the signing ceremony because it is Earth Day.
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