Queensland’s recent extreme weather – bushfires, heatwaves, coral bleaching, drought, Cyclone Penny, Townsville's floods – showed the state was clearly experiencing climate change, Professor Ian Lowe said.

“What I think is a reason for concern is that the science in the 1980s was saying that – if the [1980] climate models were right – by about 2030 there would be observable changes in climate that would be impossible to ignore,” Professor Lowe said.

“Now I think you could say that, if anything, the science of the time was being unreasonably cautious,” he said.

“I think you would have to be in deep denial not to accept that there are unmistakeable signs of climate change.”

Professor Lowe is a member of the Queensland government’s senior climate change body, the Queensland Climate Advisory Council.

It is chaired by Queensland Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch, while Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Deputy Premier Jackie Trad, Natural Resources and Mines Minister Anthony Lynham and Queensland's chief scientist are members. It has met only three times since 2017.

Brisbane Times requested comment from the office of Queensland’s chief scientist but the request was denied.

The levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere in June 2018 reached 411 parts per million, the highest-ever level.

This level was recorded at the University of California San Diego and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Professor Lowe listed coral bleaching, Townsville’s flooding, the Australia-wide heatwaves in January 2019, the unseasonal Queensland bushfires from October to December and the recent fires in Tasmania as examples of extreme weather, triggered by the changing climate.

Professor Lowe said the Queensland government was not “keeping pace” with measures to adapt to a changing climate, despite a string of reports since 2015.

“As I said before, there isn’t yet the sense of urgency that there should be, either in adaptation, or in mitigation,” he said.

He said the federal government was "in complete denial" over the impacts of climate change.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, in Townsville on Tuesday, declined to say whether the torrential rain, described as a one-in-100-year event, was a demonstration of climate change.

"My thinking is the support for Townsville people. I'm not engaging in broader policy debates today," Mr Morrison said.

Professor Lowe said some “really good things were happening in Queensland", including the transition of Townsville’s former Kidston gold mine to a 270-megawatt pumped hydro scheme and solar farm by 2021 and an expanding solar industry.

However, he said Queensland’s export earnings still depended on coal, either through liquid natural gas (LNG) or coal itself.

“So there is now a very significant – and not decreasing – economic dependence on fossil fuels,” he said.

Ms Enoch said former US vice-president Al Gore had accepted her invitation to run a three-day climate change leadership training workshop in June 2019 at Brisbane's Convention Centre for 1000 people.

Mr Gore now runs similar Climate Reality Project workshops in the US and Europe.

Ms Enoch said Mr Morrison was "dodging the tough issues" for political reasons.

"Climate change is the fundamental challenge facing our planet today and it is critical that we unite to take urgent and strong action to reduce our carbon pollution," Ms Enoch said.

“I accept the science and I acknowledge that we are at a tipping point."

Ms Enoch said Queensland was very active in adapting to climate change impacts.

“We are committed to a target of zero net emissions by 2050 and a target of 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030," she said.

"And we are on track with renewables; by 2020 about 20 per cent of the state’s electricity will be provided by renewable energy."

She said Queensland had banned broadscale land clearing and introduced plans to encourage carbon farming to increase the amount of carbon dioxide taken up through new forests.

Fossil fuels contribute most to increasing carbon dioxide levels in the Earth's atmosphere, which trap heat, slowly warming the atmosphere. Global temperatures are about 0.9 degrees warmer than in 1939, according to NASA. 

Professor Lowe said the Queensland Climate Advisory Council was preparing a strategic "roadmap" on climate change to be released midyear.

Professor Lowe is Emeritus Professor of Science, Technology and Society and the former Head of the School of Science at Griffith University.

In 1996, he produced the first national report on the state of Australia's environment. He is a patron of Sustainable Population Australia.

In 2001, he received the Order of Australia for his contribution to science, technology and the environment. In 2002 he won the Australian government’s Centenary Prize for his work in the environment and the Australian Museum’s Eureka Prize for science.

Professor Lowe said farmers acknowledged Australia’s rainfall patterns had changed and some wineries around South Australia’s McLaren Vale were moving south to Tasmania where temperate weather better suited grapes.

“Some of the winemakers in South Australia and Victoria have been buying properties in Tasmania because they are projecting they will no longer be able to grow their grapes in South Australia or Victoria,” he said.

“So people whose livelihoods depend on responding to the climate are responding.”

Professor Lowe said business was investing in renewable energy at higher levels than fossils fuels, according to Forbes magazine.