Australia supports UN review of restricting global warming to 1.5C

Small at-risk states speak up on global warming.

 

Climate change protesters believe aviation and shipping emissions are the elephants in the room for negotiators. Photo / AP

Australia would support a UN review of restricting global warming to 1.5C, despite holding firm on a less ambitious goal.
The call for a special report by the UN climate science body is understood to have come from a group of vulnerable nations, who believe the 2C goal would severely damage their countries.
Those nations, like the Pacific Islands, want the 1.5C included in a global agreement to curb emissions being negotiated in climate talks in Paris. France and Germany were the first developed countries to back that call, now supported by 108 countries.
Environment Minister Greg Hunt said Australia also supported UN analysis of that level of warming and had raised the issue with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
It comes after a scientific review of the adequacy of the 2C target was blocked at the talks - mainly by Saudi Arabia, which relies heavily on fossil fuels.

Pascal Girot, a member of the Costa Rica delegation, said the two-year review was a critical link between science and policy, and believes the negotiating process has politicised the science.
The move also highlighted tensions in the developing nation negotiating block, the G77.
Monica Araya, a member of the Climate Vulnerable Forum expert group, said tensions in Paris went deeper than just the major players such as the United States, China and India.
"What is becoming very uncomfortable for Paris is how are you going to deal with the puzzle in the south," she said.
While negotiators argued over the text, the most vulnerable Pacific nations called for delegates to see their viewpoint.
Tinaai Teaua, a 23-year-old from Kiribati, has flown to Paris and is "fighting for my future".
"I want to have children, I want to stay on my own land. I don't want to move."
Pulafagu Toafa from Tuvalu says it's a matter of life and death. "We want people to consider that we are also human beings and we need life," Toafa said.
Negotiators had until midnight before turning over new drafts to the French, so the hosts can take over the process for high-level negotiations next week.