The response from climate scientists to the government’s announcement of a new emission reduction target of 62 to 70 per cent on 2005 levels by 2035 was immediate and savage.

“It’s worse than I feared,” Bill Hare, one of the founders of the non-governmental policy institute Climate Analytics, said, adding a 2035 target of 76 per cent was necessary for Australia to align with the goal of holding warming to close to 1.5 degrees.

“It’s baffling that in the same week the government could release a terrifying document warning Australians of a grim future if global warming continues … and then turn around and agree to a target that if all others followed would lead to warming of at least 2 degrees.”

At 1.5 degrees of warming, the Great Barrier Reef would shrink and continue to be battered by

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