New York: The contrast could not be more stark. Even as he goes about building a coalition for war at this week's United Nations General Assembly, the US Secretary of State, John Kerry has thrown his weight behind Tuesday's Climate Summit.
The UN's Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, marched in Sunday's rally, attended by estimated 300,000 people, calling for immediate and drastic action to mitigate climate change. He was joined by the French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius and French Ecology Minister, Segolene Royal, the former Irish president Mary Robinson as well as the UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Christiana Figueres, and the EU Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard.
Meanwhile the Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, was not yet in New York and will not be attending Tuesday's meeting, though he will attend talks on the Islamic State the following day.
When it comes climate change, Australia is not considered to be among the most helpful of international actors at this meeting.
On Sunday the Foreign Affairs Minister, Julie Bishop, attended a meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change. She restated Australia's commitment to reduce its emissions by 5 per cent of 2000 levels by 2020. Even that small commitment was greeted with relief by the Marshall Islands Foreign Minister, Tony de Brum, who had feared Australia might even step back from that.
By contrast the submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change by the United States discusses a 30 per cent reduction in emissions by 2025, a 42 per cent cut by 2030 and an 83 per cent cut by 2050. The US will make its commitment next year and is encouraging other nations to consider similar cuts.
Professor Michael Gerrard, director of Columbia Law School's Sabin Centre for Climate Change law, said the change in Australia's climate change position – from a world leader to a nation of concern – had been a point of discussion internationally in the lead up to this week's talks.
He said Australia's carbon tax was regarded as a model and its dismantling was a setback for climate change efforts globally. Even though Australia only emits about 1.5 per cent of the world's greenhouse gasses, its decision to abandon its efforts would have a broader impact, he said.
"It is about collective action. Every industrialised nation must act. Australia failing to act gives an excuse to other nations to not act.
"If rumours that China is set to announce its own climate trading scheme at these talks prove true, the international dialogue will change completely," he said.
On Monday Professor Gerrard moderated a town hall meeting of Pacific leaders hosted by the New York City Bar Association. The discussion ranged from grim to bleak. Asked about Australia's apparent reluctance to engage on the issue the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Henry Puna, said, "there is no point in throwing stones", but frustration in the room was evident.
The panel, which included the leaders of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Palau and the Republic of Nauru, as well as the prime ministers of Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands, spent some time discussing the possibility of mass evacuation from their homelands.
Asked what sort of commitment Australia could make that would satisfy its island neighbours, one advisor said, "It is about showing genuine effort. If you look at the domestic discussion in Australia it is hard to take it with a straight face.
"And other countries around the world feel the same way, ask the EU, ask the US," he said.
President Christopher Loeak of the Marshall Islands addressed the meeting with resolve, if not quite optimism.
"Tomorrow is our chance to be the leaders we were elected to be," he said.
