US President Barack Obama has declared climate change to be the greatest threat to the future of the planet when he outlined details of his plan to cut US carbon emissions by 32 per cent by 2030 compared with 2005 levels.

Under what is already being referred to as the Obama Rule, the administration will set each state an emissions-reduction target based on their existing energy consumption. The states would then draft their own plans to meet those targets, and would receive financial incentives for meeting or beating the targets.

And in an argument largely ignored  in the climate change debates the president said the plan would avoid up to 3600 premature deaths and lead to 90,000 fewer asthma attacks in children, while saving consumers $US155 billion ($213 billion) in energy bills between 2020 and 2030 due to the lower cost of renewables.

Mr Obama’s call is in line with most of the rest of the world, especially Europe, but it is not only the wealthy nations that are serious about tackling climate change, for China says it will introduce an emissions trading scheme in the next five years, and India has just  imposed a carbon tax.

And here in Australia, after an election drubbing in part caused by misleading propaganda and consequent misconceptions about its carbon price policy, Labor is now ready to go to the next election calling for an emissions trading scheme.

I can’t avoid asking myself why Mr Abbott is so ready to follow the US blindly into a war with no clear plan, such as he has done in Iraq,  but when it comes to climate action to save our very way of life he runs a mile.

It leads me to wonder if while Mr Obama is shutting down polluting coal, Mr Abbott is still obsessed with propping up the dying coal industry to please his donor mates.

He has made us the only country in the world to have scrapped a price on climate pollution and slashed our renewable energy target.

Mr Abbott’s climate denialism is also to blame for Australia missing out on the renewable energy opportunities in employment and trade that other countries are rapidly embracing.  

Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens Deputy Leader and climate spokesperson, said: “The Abbott Government needs to change tack and join the global momentum ahead of the Paris talks by urgently releasing credible, science-based post-2020 targets.”

Indeed, Captain Abbott's rumoured pathetic targets rely on setting dodgy base levels, are less than half Obama's plan, and ignore the Climate Change Authority's recommendation for a 40 to 60 per cent reduction by 2030 on 2000 levels.

He has made Australia  an international laughing stock on climate.

We can no longer afford his climate denialism.