The minister responsible for reducing Australia's emissions has lauded the nation's "strong targets" after a United Nations report called for existing efforts to be tripled.
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Australia's goal is to reduce emissions by 26 to 28 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030, a target set in the Paris agreement at UN talks four years ago.
Increasing targets will be central to the UN's climate summit in New York on Monday, pre-empted by a report from the organisation's weather agency showing the past five years have been the hottest on record.
The World Meteorological Organisation report says over the past few years, rising sea levels, ice loss and extreme weather have accelerated.
It says efforts to reduce carbon pollution need to be tripled to keep from hitting the 2 degrees Celsius mark and must increase fivefold to limit warming to 1.5 degrees since pre-industrial times.
Energy and emissions reduction minister Angus Taylor says Australia already has "strong targets".
"They are much stronger than many other countries and we deliver," he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
"We've delivered on our 2020 targets, we've delivered 367 million tonnes ahead on those 2020 targets and we've laid out to the last tonne how we will achieve our 2030 targets."
The nation's targets:
* Kyoto 1 - An eight per cent rise from 1990 levels by 2008/12. Emissions instead increased by three per cent on the baseline.
* Kyoto 2 - A 0.5 per cent reduction on 1990 levels by 2020.
* Australia's own target - five per cent below 2000 levels by 2020.
* Paris target - 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne is attending the climate talks in New York in place of Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who will be in Chicago.
Mr Guterres wants leaders to bring plans to do more.
"That is kind of a ticket," he said.
"For bad news, don't come."
Labor's energy spokesman Mark Butler says a national policy for the sector will help reduce emissions.
"A key driver of the energy crisis is a lack of national policy to support new investment in electricity generation," he said.
"We need to invest in new generation to replace an ageing and increasingly unreliable fleet of old generators to lower emissions and, crucially, to increase supply to bring prices down."
Australian Associated Press
