Climate pact will need hard slog: Rudd

11 Jul 2009, 11:11 am   -   Source: AAP
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PM Kevin Rudd says world leaders face a 'hard slog' as they race to overcome huge hurdles he fears could stop them from signing a new climate change pact.

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Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says world leaders face a "hard slog" as they race to overcome huge hurdles he fears could stop them from signing a new climate change pact.

After wrapping up talks with the heads of 38 developed and developing countries in the earthquake-ravaged town of L'Aquila, Mr Rudd stressed they faced a race against time to sign off on an agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol in Copenhagen in December.

While the leaders agreed that global warming should be held to two degrees celsius in an attempt to combat climate change, no specific targets were set for emissions reductions in the medium term.

'Large gaps' remain

Mr Rudd said while some progress had been made at the summit, there remained large gaps between the developed and developing nations on what should be done before they sit down at Copenhagen.

Greenhouse emissions had been allowed to surge as developed countries built their economic powerhouses in the past century, while developing nations wanted to have the same chances to grow without being subject to stringent rules forcing them to cut their emissions.

As a result, he said, political leaders had to show strong collective leadership and be flexible with their negotiators as they work on an agreement for Copenhagen.

"We are dealing with two colliding realities," Mr Rudd told reporters.

"This will be a hard slog but we have to push hard in order to bring about an outcome for Australia and for the world."

Rudd revealed uncertainties

Mr Rudd had earlier on Friday expressed fears that world leaders would be unable to reach agreement at Copenhagen because there were "too many problems", while holding bilateral talks with his Danish counterpart Lars Lokke Rasmussen at L'Aquila.

But he insisted to reporters he remained "optimistic" an agreement could be signed "notwithstanding the fact that that is going to be very, very difficult".

"If we were simply to take where we have got so far we are not on track (to sign an agreement at Copenhagen) but with further resolution at a political level we can achieve real progress as far as Copenhagen is concerned and deliver an outcome," Mr Rudd said.

Leaders hope to make more progress towards Copenhagen when they hold more climate change talks at the next G20 meeting in Pittsburgh in September and a United Nations summit in Bangkok before gathering in Copenhagen.

Brown: Huge progress has been made

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said while "substantial" progress had been made, there was a way to go before agreement could be reached on a new pact.

"I think Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and I agree that huge progress has been made," Mr Brown told reporters after the summit.

"But of course there is more to do.

"We have to get intermediate targets and we have to get a financing agreement that will mean that resources have to be made available for that and that is the work of September at the G20, the UN summit called by the secretary general and the Copenhagen talks."

Meanwhile, G8 leaders at the meeting - from the US, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Italy and Canada - unveiled a $US20 billion ($A25.5 billion) fund to help feed the developing world.

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