Copenhagen global climate deal in doubt

There are ominous signs that an agreement at Copenhagen could be doomed to failure
after G20 finance ministers were unable to reach a consensus on how to fund a global
scheme to combat climate change.

Ministers from the G20 nations met in Scotland on Saturday and debated options on
how to pay for schemes designed to slash carbon emissions but were unable to agree
on how much money would be needed.
With world leaders due to meet at the United Nations climate change summit in
Copenhagen in December, some countries are worried about the lack of consensus on
how developed and developing countries will pay for a potential package of measures
to replace the Kyoto protocol.
But Treasurer Wayne Swan downplayed the lack of progress in Scotland, saying finance
ministers remained committed to ensuring a funding resolution at Copenhagen and said
they would hold more talks before the UN summit begins.
Mr Swan, who delivered a speech on climate change to the meeting, said Australia was
"looking forward to progress at Copenhagen on financial options, whether they are
public or privately funded".
"There was a lot of discussion about financing and these options," he told AAP.
"No definite conclusions were reached in those areas. But there was an agreement
that finance ministers will need to be involved (in working out ways to fund
measures to reduce emissions).
"We would like to see progress at Copenhagen. It's very important because ... it
goes to the core of our economic prosperity."
A communique released after their two-day meeting at St Andrews ended said the
finance ministers "recognised the need to increase significantly and urgently the
scale and predictability of finance to implement an ambitious international
agreement (on climate change)".
Britain's Chancellor Alistair Darling, who hosted the meeting, described climate
change financing as "a work in progress" and said the G20 nations were ready to do
"the heavy lifting" necessary before the Copenhagen summit starts.
"The prize here is absolutely immense," he told reporters.
"It took a crisis to get us to take action. We can't afford for another crisis to
occur.
"But we need to get the detail right. Today was always going to be a step along the
way."
The lack of progress on a funding scheme came as African nations staged a walkout at
a conference being held in Barcelona ahead of the Copenhagen summit, accusing
wealthier nations including Australia of being too timid with their emissions
reduction targets.
Australian Greens leader Bob Brown said chances of a climate deal at Copenhagen were
diminishing because world leaders, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, had
"pessimistic formulas for failure".
"The Rudd government and other western governments are simply captured by polluting
industries and it's leading to pessimism around the world," Senator Brown told
reporters on Sunday.
"The coal industry, logging industry and cement industry should not be running
government policy here."
The comments came as Nationals Senate Leader Barnaby Joyce said he had serious
doubts over whether the government would accept the coalition's amendments to its
emissions trading scheme (ETS), set to be voted on this month.
Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull last month flagged a range of proposed changes to
Labor's ETS, which would moderate higher electricity price rises for small
businesses and give bigger breaks to the coal industry and electricity generators.
Senator Joyce, whose party has refused to vote for an ETS of any kind, said Labor's
scheme equalled "a massive new tax".
"We are going to protect you from that tax, the decision is yours and your wallets,"
he told the Nine Network on Sunday.
The coalition has previously said that even if Labor agree to all its proposed
changes, it still may not vote for the scheme.
Senator Joyce said it was important the Liberals and Nationals differentiate
themselves from the government when it came to major issues like climate change.
"We cannot be just a mere shadow of what is already there," he said.