The latest draft of the Paris Agreement was released this afternoon Paris time after substantial pruning.

“Reasonable progress has been made and the ingredients for a strong, powerful agreement remain,” Chief Climate Councillor and 2007 Australian of the Year Prof Tim Flannery said.

“Importantly during the negotiations it has been clear that the majority of countries are here in good faith and are pushing for a strong agreement to tackle climate change.”

“Overall this draft agreement sets outs the elements of what could be a strong agreement that, importantly, is regularly-reviewed. It is critical that the agreement can be ratcheted up over time to strengthen countries action. This is particularly true of Australia which has weak emission reduction targets.”

The current draft envisages a five-year review and a stocktake at 2018.

“The hard work really begins now. It is time for all countries, including Australia, to redouble efforts to ensure there is a strong and credible global agreement that will see the world step up efforts to tackle climate change and transition the global economy to renewable energy.”

“This agreement will undoubtedly mark the fact that the world has already changed. Countries commitments to reduce emissions in advance of the Paris conference were hugely significant, they represent the strongest business and innovation plan the world has ever seen. This agreement will further accelerate what is already happening at a business, local and national level.”

“What has been clear in Paris is that the majority of countries are seeking an agreement that keeps temperature rise below 1.5 degrees. Australia has indicated its support for this goal. This requires a rapid scale up in Australia’s action on climate change given we are so far behind the rest of the world.”

Just yesterday Australia was ranked last for action on climate change out of OECD countries by an independent GermanWatch report.

For media enquiries, please contact Jessica Craven on 0400 424 559 or jess@climatecouncil.org.au