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Prime Minister Tony Abbott's visit to Japan, China and South Korea this week offers the opportunity for the Government to witness the changing circumstances in regional climate leadership and the accelerating Asian action on carbon and clean energy. These have seen Asia become the epicentre of clean energy investment and seen Asian nations the biggest movers in a range of indicators such as last year's TCI/GE G20 Low-Carbon Competitiveness Index.

Last week the world's atmosphere took a giant leap backward. For the first time in more than 3 million years, the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) reached 400 parts per million. This was recorded at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory located on Mauna Loa in Hawaii right out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a long way from major sources of CO2 in Asia and North America. What this means for the environment is uncertain but it's likely that, if no measures are taken to reduce this level of greenhouse gas, we could be headed for 3-4 degrees C warming globally by the end of this century

"More than 32 million people fled their homes last year because of disasters such as floods, storms and earthquakes - 98% of displacement related to climate change. Asia and west and central Africa bore the brunt. Some 1.3 million people were displaced in rich countries, with the US particularly affected. Floods in India and Nigeria accounted for 41% of displacement, according to the International Displacement Monitoring Centre and Norwegian Refugee Council"

"With huge tracts of land, sunshine and plentiful water across the northern states and territories, there are high hopes for Australia's post-mining future pinned on its ability to produce enough agricultural product to feed Asia's rapidly growing population. Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce wants to temper those expectations."

Journeys for Climate Justice aims to establish partnerships between people in Australia (and other developed countries) and the Asia Pacific region to tackle climate change. We aim to address the inequitable impacts of climate change, which fall on peoples who have contributed the least to the problem and have the least resources to deal with them.