This week a record number of more than 130 countries will gather in New York to sign the Paris Climate agreement that was thrashed out last December. In doing so, they are acknowledging that human-induced climate pollution from burning fossil fuels is driving dangerous changes to our climate – and they are on board to tackle the problem.

Australia will be among those nations gathered in New York – but despite seeking to project a perception of credibility on climate, the Turnbull Government is still implementing the retrogressive policies from the Abbott era – and that needs to change.

The warming ocean has left the Great Barrier Reef in peril. Significant parts of the reef – up to 95 per cent in the northern half – have already bleached and it's not yet known how much of the deathly whitened coral will survive. Unless pollution trends are reversed, the world's coral reefs are predicted to be gone within 25 years.

In the months since the Paris Agreement, successive extreme heat records have been smashed, including the record for the hottest year ever – which 2015 won at a canter. Already we have hit the 1 degree of warming threshold and have pumped enough pollution into the atmosphere to reach 400 parts per million – edging perilously close to the 450ppm danger zone.