Ahead of mid-year climate talks in Germany, oceans expert Terry Garcia said the global community could not count on the US as a reliable partner and leader on ocean and climate policy in the next two-and-a-half years.
"If progress is to be made, others will have to shoulder the burden," the former senior bureaucrat with the top US climate and weather agency said while delivering the Talbot Oration at the Australian Museum.
"In that regard, Australia and the Asia-Pacific region have the credibility, institutions and scientific capacity this moment urgently requires," he said on Thursday in Sydney.
The Trump administration has withdrawn the US from the Paris Agreement and stripped funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where Mr Garcia previously served as deputy administrator.
Deep-sea mining - involving mineral extraction from the ocean floor, where little is known about the environmental consequences - has also been fast-tracked by the US, including in international waters.
"These actions could have far-reaching consequences, measured in harm to reefs, coastlines, fisheries, and the well-being of people around the world," Mr Garcia said.
Australia was "perfectly positioned" to assert international leadership as president of negotiations at the upcoming United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP) summit, he said, to be hosted by Turkey with pre-meetings in Pacific island countries.
Australia's Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen will attend the annual mid-year meetings in Bonn, Germany, which typically lay the scientific and technical groundwork for the main event later in the year.
His Turkish counterpart, COP31 president Murat Kurum, will also lead discussions and sound out national priorities.
Clean energy and electrification have emerged as priorities for Mr Bowen and Mr Kurum, as the biggest oil shock in history sparks renewed focus on energy security.
Electric vehicle uptake in Australia has exploded since the Middle East conflict began, with hybrid, plug-in hybrid and EVs making up more than 46 per cent of all new cars sold in May.
International climate negotiations are also heating up as the World Meteorological Organisation ascribes an 80 per cent chance of an El Nino forming in months, of at least moderate strength.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said El Nino conditions would "pour fuel on the fire of a warming world".
In a wide-ranging speech on the perils facing marine landscapes, Mr Garcia said ocean degradation and climate change were "inextricably intertwined".
"Sea-surface temperatures have hit record highs," he said.Â
"And right now, we are living through the most widespread coral bleaching event ever recorded.
"My old agency, NOAA, has had to add three new alert levels to its coral bleaching scale - the equivalent of adding category six and seven to the hurricane scale, because the existing categories couldn't capture what we were seeing."
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