Adelaide hosts UN climate change official

South Australian government ministers are being briefed by a senior United Nations official on a new global agreement on climate change.

The UN climate conference in Paris in December must generate a new universal agreement to allow for deep cuts to global emissions.

Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary to the United Nations' Framework Convention on Climate Change, is meeting ministers and senior government officials in Adelaide on Monday.

She says climate change offers nations a chance to shape a more prosperous future.