Rudd said naysayers were active in every country as the world approached the United Nations' climate summit in Copenhagen in December.

"They are a minority. They are powerful. And invariably they are driven by vested interests," he said.

Rudd said it was difficult to move towards a global agreement in the face of those who denied climate change was caused by human activity, those who refused to act on the evidence, or who wanted other countries to act first.

"As we approach Copenhagen, these three groups of climate skeptics are quite literally holding the world to ransom," he told policy think-tank the Lowy Institute in Sydney.

"Provoking fear campaigns in every country they can; blocking or delaying domestic legislation in every country they can; with the objective of slowing and if possible destroying the momentum towards a global deal on climate change," he said.

The centre-left Labor leader who campaigned strongly on the environment ahead of his 2007 election, said Australia was one of the hottest and driest countries on earth and would suffer more drought and higher temperatures if no action was taken.

"Climate change deniers are small in number, but they are too dangerous to be ignored. They are well resourced and well represented by political conservatives in many, many countries," Rudd said.

"And the danger they pose is this: by collapsing political momentum towards national and global action on climate change, they collapse global political will to act at all.

"They are the stick that gets stuck in the wheel, that despite its size may yet bring the train to a complete stop."

Rudd said Australia would push ahead with its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme which is aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions believed responsible for global warming by between five and 25 percent by 2020.

The scheme, which must be approved by parliament, would stipulate the higher figure if the rest of the world adopted "ambitious" reduction targets at Copenhagen.

Some 190 countries will meet in Copenhagen to thrash out a new climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

earlier related report
G20 fails to reach pre-Copenhagen climate finance deal
St Andrews, Scotland (AFP) Nov 7, 2009 - G20 nations fell short of reaching agreement on climate finance a month before key UN talks, while pledging Saturday to maintain stimulus measures for a still "uneven" global economy.

The 20 leading economies committed to work for an "ambitious outcome" at December's vital Copenhagen climate change conference, but could not achieve their goal of agreeing how to distribute funding to poor countries to tackle the problem.

"We committed to take action to tackle the threat of climate change and work towards an ambitious outcome in Copenhagen" where countries will seek agreement on slashing greenhouse gas emissions, the communique said.

Finance ministers also said they would stick to emergency stimulus support measures despite signs that the world was emerging from a 12-month financial maelstrom.

"We are not out of the woods yet and we need to maintain the measures we have taken," Alistair Darling, finance minister of G20 president Britain, said.

With the world's biggest economy barely out of recession, US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said there was a "very broad consensus that growth remains the dominant policy."

Meanwhile, a proposal by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for a tax on global financial transactions got a lukewarm response, with the United States offering no support.

A month before the December 7-18 Copenhagen conference, the G20 said it was fully behind fighting climate change, though it promised only to "take forward" work on funding and provided no figures.

"We committed to take action to tackle the threat of climate change and work towards an ambitious outcome in Copenhagen," the communique said.

"We discussed climate change financing options and recognised the need to increase significantly and urgently the scale and predictability of finance to implement an ambitious international agreement."

But there were signs of discord on the issue.

A French source told AFP late Friday that some emerging countries say the G20 is not the "appropriate forum" to discuss the issue.

Darling had earlier acknowledged there were "different views" around the table which would lead to "arguments."

"If there isn't an agreement on finance, if there isn't an agreement about contributions to make sure we can deal with this problem, then the Copenhagen agreement is going to be much, much more difficult," he said.

The outcome was criticised by campaigners including environmental group WWF.

In a statement, it said the G20 had "failed to reach agreement on the financing required for a global agreement to stave off catastrophic climate change" and voiced "scepticism" about promises to make further progress before Copenhagen.

Brown had earlier urged the G20 to consider a tax on global financial transactions, known as a Tobin Tax, as part of a new "social contract" for banks.

The move would be one way of reflecting the "global responsibilities" which financial institutions have to society, said Brown, who has in the past been wary of such a tax because of fears it could harm Britain's financial sector.

Asked by Sky News television whether he backed a Tobin Tax, US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said: "No, that's not something that we're prepared to support."

In a later press conference, he added: "I think it is fair to say that we agree that we have to build a system in which taxpayers are not exposed to risk of loss in the future."

He said that "we look forward to working with our counterparts" on how to avoid this although declined to say if the US would actively oppose such a tax.

Brown stressed Britain would not act alone on the Tobin Tax, saying it would also have to be implemented by all the world's major financial centres, including the US, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Switzerland.

"Let me be clear: Britain will not move unless others move with us together," he said.

Earlier, around 200 people, many dressed in bankers' pinstriped suits, gathered on a beach in St Andrews to protest against the meeting -- claiming the talking had to stop and firm action taken.

earlier related report
US may still put emissions proposals at Copenhagen
The United States said on Friday it could still present proposals for curbing its carbon emissions at next month's climate change meeting in Copenhagen, even if Congress was still debating global warming legislation.

Uncertainty about what Washington will propose for reducing its own huge emissions of greenhouse gases has been a major headache for the United Nations' negotiations.

The US has been trying to coax climate-change legislation through Congress, prompting it to be cautious about overstepping its position in the international arena.

The US chief delegate at climate talks in Barcelona, Jonathan Pershing, told reporters on Friday that President Barack Obama's administration was focusing primarily on getting the legislation in place.

"The United States has not yet got that deal done at home, and we are very interested in seeing that deal move forward further before we take a decision as to how we would move internationally," he said.

But, pressed by journalists, he did not rule out putting forward a proposal with numbers in Copenhagen for reducing US emissions.

"It is definitely possible. A decision as to whether or not we will do it has not yet been made," he said.

Two bills have been put to the two chambers of Congress, one that would amount to a cut by 2020 of 17 percent in emissions and the other for a reduction of around 20 percent.

But the benchmark years in both cases would be 2005, a far less onerous target to reach compared with 1990, which is used by most countries.

The Copenhagen marathon is designed to climax a two-year process of negotiations leading to a worldwide agreement for tackling climate change beyond 2012.

The talks have been mired in discord over how to share out the burden for curbing greenhouse-gas pollutions and prime a financial pump to help developing countries switch to a low-carbon technology and adapt to climate change.

The United States plays a linchpin role in the negotiations as it is the world's richest country and second biggest carbon emitter.

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Related Links
Climate Science News - Modeling, Mitigation Adaptation

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News