Prime Minister Rudd US Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, Mar. '09. Credit US State Department

By Rich Bowden:

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has told reporters that some agreement is still possible in key climate talks in Copenhagen despite major disagreements in over one hundred provisions.

Despite a generally pessimistic view from world leaders as they fly in to Copenhagen for the culmination of nearly two weeks of acrimonious talks, Mr Rudd said in a speech that though 102 issues remained unsolved, there had been some progress on what he claimed were four key issues.

These were reducing greenhouse emissions; assistance to poorer nations to help mitigate the effects of climate change; international verification of China’s emissions and whether or not the Kyoto protocol would be replaced by an updated model.

His views on helping poorer nations cope with climate change were given a boost by the announcement by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that her country was willing to contribute towards a fund to address emerging countries’ needs.

The funding would be “in the context of a strong accord in which all major economies stand behind meaningful (greenhouse-gas) mitigation actions and provide full transparency as to their implementation,” said Mrs Clinton.

She added that the United States was prepared to: “…work with other countries toward a goal of jointly mobilizing 100 billion dollars a year by 2020 to address the climate change needs,” she said.

Mr Rudd seized on the announcement as a demonstration of progress in the often divisive talks.

“The positive statement by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today concerning long term finance to support adaptation and mitigation by the most vulnerable economies in the world has had an effect on the negotiations,” he said.

However he acknowledged that much work needed to be done to achieve any sort of successful outcome.

“Responsibility for the next 24 hours is to work, work and work,” said Mr Rudd. “And I will work as long as is necessary to try and bring about a strong agreement here for Australia and for the world.”

“I fear a triumph of form over substance, I fear a triumph of inaction over action. Let us instead as leaders resolve to decide for the future, not simply to defer the future,” he said.

However the Australian Greens have criticised the prime minister’s address to the forum saying it was far from strong enough and amounted to a wasted opportunity to put pressure on the developed world to significantly cut emissions.

The Greens climate spokeswoman Senator Christine Milne, who is attending the Copenhagen talks, told the ABC that

Sen Christine Milne, 2007. Credit: Barrylb

Mr Rudd should push for carbon emissions to be reduced by 40 per cent below 1990 levels and aim for a temperature rise of no more than 1.5C.

“The opportunity was there for Kevin Rudd to make a breakthrough,” she told ABC Radio. “Everybody knows that what needed to happen is developed countries need to lift their level of ambition.”

She added that Australia, along with other industrialised nations, hadn’t shown enough leadership at the climate talks.

“And yet Australia, the United States, the European Union, still haven’t got enough on the table to actually lead to a breakthrough in the negotiation,” she said.

Tags: carbon emissions, COP15, copenhagen, global warming, Hillary Clinton, Kevin Rudd