Wong defending climate change position

10 Dec 2008, 9:07 am   -   Source: AAP
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Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has rejected criticisms Australia is dragging the chain at UN climate talks in Poland.

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Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has rejected criticisms Australia is dragging the chain at UN climate talks in Poland.

Developing countries at the talks are demanding rich nations cut greenhouses gas emissions by between 25 and 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.

But there is mounting speculation the Rudd government will go with a target of between 5 and 15 per cent when it releases its carbon pollution reduction scheme (CPRS) on Monday.

Senator Wong says she hasn't heard the criticisms in Poznan.

"People have said they absolutely recognise what this government is doing when it comes to reducing emissions through the CPRS," she told ABC Radio.

In particular other nations welcomed the work Australia was doing with Indonesia to reduce emissions from deforestation.

She denied Australian negotiators had played a leading role in attempts to drop references to rich countries reducing carbon emissions by between 25 and 40 per cent.

"That is not at all my understanding of what's been occurring in these negotiations at officials level," Senator Wong said.

She stressed countries weren't required to put their reduction targets on the table at Poland.

This week's talks in Poznan were a "working conference" and a mid-point between last year's Bali talks and next year's Copenhagen conference when binding commitments would be set, she said.

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