Copenhagen summit could end without agreement, Rudd says

Prime minister Kevin Rudd has said the negotiations at the climate change summit in Copenhagen are progressing very slowly and that ongoing discussions are “very difficult”.

The comments came as a number of world leaders are preparing to attend the last days of the summit in the hopes of finalising at least the structure of a legally binding agreement.

Rudd told reporters after a full day of talks at the conference that it was like an “average ALP conference on steroids… Today was a very difficult day of negotiations, very little progress has been made”.

However, Rudd said he would not name any officials or delegations holding up the discussions saying “the business of diplomacy suggests disagreements be kept internal”.

He also said a proposal from the prime minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, which would use billions of dollars to aid poorer countries in combating climate change was “a constructive framework… that doesn’t mean we would sign up to every aspect of it, the possibility of Tobin taxes or aviation taxes is not the view of the Australian Government”.

Zenawi’s plan has been endorsed by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, as well as British prime minister Gordon Brown, and will provide about $US100 billion annually to poor countries by 2020.

“I know my proposal today will disappoint some Africans. My proposal scales back our expectation with respect to the level of funding in return for more reliable funding,” Zenawi said in a statement.

But despite the praise for an agreement, a universal document signed by all attending nations has yet to be written. Canadian environment minister Jim Prentice told the Vancouver Sun about 48 countries are still waiting for a Danish agreement to be put forward for discussion, but nothing has been released.

A draft text has been approved by one UN negotiating group, however some attending nations, including Mauritius, have raised legal problems with the existing draft.

And while the Japanese Government has said it will raise support for poorer countries to battle global warming to the tune of $15 billion in the three years to 2010, the funds will only be provided on the basis an agreement is made.

Prentice said Canada is willing to commit to a three-year deal, but that nations are still unsure as to how much money should be given to the developing world.

One of the biggest issues at the conference has been the discussion of how poorer nations will combat climate change with limited funds. A division has risen between the G77 group and several richer nations, including China, the US, Canada and Australia.

Rudd has said it is possible the conference could end without an agreement. “The nature of these things is you either run into a brick wall or you get an agreement,” he said.