Warsaw climate summit: first international climate test for the new government

The 19th UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties will take place in Warsaw, Poland, from 11-22 November 2013. This will be the first major international climate change meeting attended by the newly elected Coalition government. The Warsaw meeting will occur as legislation is introduced into Parliament to remove the nation’s first legislated limit on carbon pollution from major emitters and for Australia to become the first country to dismantle a carbon market.While no major emission reduction decisions are expected, the outcomes of the Warsaw meeting - and the political dynamics it creates - will determine whether it is a staging post or stumbling block on the path to finalising the new binding climate agreement in Paris in 2015. Importantly, the meeting will set up the sequencing of when countries will advance stronger pre-2020 emission reduction actions and their potential emission targets for the period to 2030