Australia's solemn climate promise much more than a signing ceremony

The Paris agreement puts real pressure on Australia to close the gap between scientific and international reality and an unedifying climate policy paralysis

First the good news. Greg Hunt is about to join 60 heads of state and representatives from more than 150 countries at the United Nations signing ceremony for last year's Paris climate agreement, and has said Australia will move to ratify it by the end of the year.

That eagerness, in itself, is a step forward. The Howard government refused to ratify the Kyoto protocol for a decade.