Climate Summit: European Union surprised Tony Abbott will not attend high level climate talks

Updated

The European Union's climate chief says it is a pity Prime Minister Tony Abbott will not attend a major UN climate meeting in New York next week.

World leaders including US president Barack Obama and UK prime minister David Cameron will attend the UN secretary-general's Climate Summit on September 23.

Mr Abbott will not be attending, despite the fact that he is due to attend a UN Security Council meeting in New York the next day.

EU commissioner for climate action Connie Hedegaard said it came as a surprise.

"It is, of course, I think, a pity that not everyone is going," she said.

"At least 125 heads of state have sent a strong signal to the rest of the world that ... climate change is important, and they know they have a role to play and a responsibility to take in order for the world to address climate change.

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"I do not know what the reasons would be behind it, but, of course, the world will interpret who is showing up and who will not be showing up.

"So that's for your Prime Minister and your government to decide, what kind of profile they want in this."

The Prime Minister's office said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop would represent Australia at the climate talks.

Mr Abbott's trip to New York will see him deliver Australia's national statement at the UN's General Assembly and meet key leaders ahead of the G20 meeting in Brisbane later this year.

Speaking to Radio National this morning, the PM said he was staying away from the climate talks because he needed to attend Parliament in Canberra early next week.

"My first duty in a sense is to the Australian parliament and that's where I'll be early in the week," he told RN.

"There are quite a few things happening in the Australian parliament in the next week or so.

"Julie Bishop will ably represent Australia at the climate conference, and as you know Australia is committed to a 5 per cent reduction in our emissions.

"We are confident we can do it without a job-destroying economy-wrecking carbon tax."

Major emitters China, India also not sending leaders

China's president Xi Jinping and India's prime minister Narenda Modi are also staying away from the talks.

But Ms Hedegaard – who just returned from a trip to India – is expecting a strong commitment to climate change action from the new Modi government in New Delhi.

"The environment minister of India will be going there," she said.

"I hope we will hear a strong commitment from the new government that they will try and be ready to tell the rest of the world what they're planning to do first quarter next year, and I think the same is the case for China."

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon is hoping the summit will speed up a deal to cut greenhouse gases.

If it is successful, it is likely there will be an agreement in Paris in late 2015.

Ms Hedegaard believes next year's Paris summit will be more successful than the 2009 Copenhagen meeting that failed to achieve a legally binding agreement.

"The big difference is that this time we have said internationally no later than Q1 next year – that is more than half a year before Paris –all parties should have done their homework and present what they intend to do," she said.

"Because then the pressure should grow on different states to actually do your homework now and announce well in advance of Paris what you intend to do and then we can assess it together."

Small island nations hoping to win hearts and minds at UN

Kiribati is the canary in the coal mine when it comes to climate change.

It is about 7,000 kilometres north-east of Australia and is already feeling the devastating impacts of rising tides.

The water is destroying homes, making soil more salty and decimating crops.

If some climate scientists are correct, the majority of Kiribati could be underwater by the end of the century.

Kiribati president Anote Tong said it was a "matter of survival".

"The projections of sea level rise is between half a metre to one metre – that's serious for us," he said.

"We will not survive. If we don't do anything, we will not survive.

"I get the sense that maybe people are listening, but not everybody's listening. And I sometimes believe I'm preaching to the people who already believe."

Mr Tong will make the case for his nation at the UN summit.

On his way, he will visit the Arctic, where the ice melting there is contributing to rising sea levels he says are slowly drowning his country.

But on the other side of the globe, in the Antarctic, sea ice is actually increasing to record levels.

Professor Matthew England from the University of New South Wales' Climate Change Research Centre said that was not likely to have a significant effect on sea levels.

"Sea ice itself just indicates regions of cooling or warming," he said.

"In this case parts of the Antarctic have cooled enough for the Antarctic sea ice to grow there.

"But in terms of the sea level it's really the land ice melt and the thermal expansion that we're keeping a close eye on."

Topics: climate-change, environment, world-politics, australia, united-states, european-union

First posted