The agreement between China and the US to set ambitious greenhouse gas emission targets highlights just how much Tony Abbott is sticking his head in the sand before the G20 summit in Brisbane.

So says federal Labor, who have criticised the government’s climate policy, and argued that Australia is going backwards in tackling climate change.

China, the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, has set a goal for its emissions to peak at 2030, or earlier if possible.

The country will also look to increase the non-fossil fuel share of all energy to around 20 per cent by 2030, while the US set a goal to cut its own emissions of the gases blamed for climate change by 26-28 per cent from 2005 levels by 2025.

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The declaration came as President Barack Obama met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for talks in Beijing.

Australia currently has a goal of reducing emissions by five per cent by 2020.

The China-US deal has amped up the pressure on Mr Abbott, with climate change conspicuously absent from the agenda at the G20 summit in Brisbane.

Neither does a late draft of an “energy efficiency plan” to be released on Sunday mention the words “climate change”.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says the historic agreement will provide significant momentum to deal with climate change at the upcoming G20 in Brisbane despite the prime minister’s preference not to have the issue discussed.

“While the United States and China show global leadership, Tony Abbott is sticking his head in the sand,” Mr Shorten said in a statement.

“At the G20 this week, Australia will hold the embarrassing title of being the only nation going backwards on climate change.”

“Tony Abbott’s flat-earth views are out of touch with Australians and out of touch with world leaders. Climate change is not just an environmental issue. It is a security issue and it is absolutely an economic issue. Tony Abbott’s failure to recognise this represents a failure of leadership.”

Greens leader Christine Milne said Mr Abbott was so busy unwinding the nation’s climate policies that he failed to notice the global economy was changing around him.

“Until the Abbott government took control, Australia was a world leader in climate policy with an emissions trading scheme that was considered template legislation for other nations,” Senator Milne said.

“Tony Abbott is trashing our international reputation, our economic opportunities, our health, our safety and our precious natural environment.”

The Climate Institute’s deputy chief executive Erwin Jackson says the Australian government has been caught with its pants down.

“This is the problem with having a pitiful 2020 target,” he said.

“There’s no free lunch for the government here. If you want to participate in global action and you want to be a credible player internationally, then you can’t continue to sit on your hands.”

The Climate Council’s Tim Flannery said Australia must be a lifter and not a leaner.

“Australia is a major climate change player. Per person, we are the highest emitter, more than Europeans or Chinese,” Professor Flannery said.

“This means Australia has a responsibility to play its part.”

Obama said Wednesday’s joint announcement on the two countries’ emissions targets was a “historic agreement” and a “major milestone in the US-China relationship”.

Latest agreement fraught with challenges

Attempts to deal with climate change, which scientists warn is approaching a potentially catastrophic point of no return, have long been stymied by the unwillingness of the United States and China to work together on the problem.

“We have a special responsibility to lead the worldwide effort against climate change,” Obama said.

“We hope to encourage all economies to be more ambitious.”

China and the US, which together produce around 45 per cent of the world’s carbon dioxide, will be key to ensuring a global deal on reducing emissions after 2020 is reached next year.

The two countries have long been at loggerheads over global targets, with each saying the other should bear more responsibility for cutting emissions of gases blamed for heating up the atmosphere.

But after the 2009 Copenhagen Summit nearly ended in fiasco, salvaged only by a last-minute deal brokered by Obama and China’s then premier, Washington and Beijing have started to move closer towards agreement.

The World Resources Institute, a US-based environmental group, hailed the Obama-Xi pact as a breakthrough.

“It’s a new day to have the leaders of the US and China stand shoulder-to-shoulder and make significant commitments to curb their country’s emissions,” the institute’s president Andrew Steer said.

“They have both clearly acknowledged the mounting threat of climate change and the urgency of action.”

But while it was the first time China agreed to a target date for emissions to peak, the commitment was qualified, leaving considerable room for manoeuvre.

US Republican leader criticises ‘unrealistic plan’

The US Senate’s new Republican leader was quick to slam Obama’s proposed greenhouse gas reductions.

“This unrealistic plan, that the president would dump on his successor, would ensure higher utility rates and far fewer jobs,” Senator Mitch McConnell said.

The European Union pledged last month to reduce emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2030 compared with 1990 levels.

But efforts to make meaningful progress on climate change will by stymied unless the US sets “a concrete and ambitious” goal to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, Connie Hedegaard, EU climate commissioner, said in October.

The EU accounts for 11 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, compared to 16 per cent for the United States and 29 per cent for China.