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The US has set out its contribution to a new international climate change agreement, due to be agreed in Paris this December. Analysis by Climate Action Tracker suggests the US pledge is not consistent with a two degrees path and can only be considered a "fair share" of action if the cost of reducing US emissions is high in global terms. To make the pledge compatible with a two degrees pathway, other countries would need to make more ambitious efforts than the US.

On Tuesday, the U.S. submitted its first-ever official, internationally recognized plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions beyond 2020. Problem is, it’s pretty much just a retread of the path the U.S. is already on, which isn’t enough to keep global warming from crossing the “dangerous” two degree Celsius threshold—a point above which scientific consensus paints an increasingly bleak future, with global impacts capable of destabilizing human society.

“While there has been some progress in what governments are proposing for the post 2020 period, with several countries moving from “inadequate” to “medium”, proposals are still a long way from being 2C compatible,” said Bill Hare of Climate Analytics.

Australia risks failing “the most important test of climate credibility this decade”, a leading think-tank has warned.

The world's energy-related carbon dioxide emissions stopped rising in 2014, even as the economy grew, according to early data released by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

This week Climate Analytics, a research organisation led by several IPCC authors, published what is probably the most rigorous attempt to apply IPCC science to net-zero emissions. It offers different pathways to 1.5 or two degrees, depending on how quickly emissions are cut in the next five years and how certain we want to be that warming limits won't be exceeded.

PM lists areas where Australian funds would go, but experts say no country is able to determine exactly where money is spent. Climate Analytics international climate finance expert Felix Fallasch said the ultimate decision-making authority over any funding was exclusively with the fund’s board.

The Climate Action Tracker has undertaken an initial assessment of the recent announcements by the United States and China’s new pledges and proposals on emissions reductions for 2025 and 2030, in the context of the present international negotiations for a new climate agreement to be adopted at the end of 2015.

The U.S. and Chinese deal to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions unveiled yesterday improves the world’s chances of keeping a lid on global warming, researchers said.