Marian Wilkinson in Bali and Stephanie Peatling
EVEN before he gets to Bali for crucial climate change talks, Kevin Rudd has found himself embroiled in the complex world of global warming politics.
The Prime Minister yesterday attempted to clarify a statement from the Australian delegation in Bali, which said Australia "fully supports" an earlier decision for developed countries to examine cutting greenhouse emissions by between 25 per cent and 40 per cent by 2020.
That stance suggested Australia was prepared to radically cut its emissions, forcing Mr Rudd and his Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong, to issue statements stressing that Australia was not yet committing itself to any 2020 targets.
Mr Rudd said some countries had indicated "they do not necessarily accept those targets, nor do they accept those targets as binding targets for themselves". He added: "That is also the position of the Australian Government."
But by playing down the need for Australia to commit to the deeper cuts in its greenhouse gas emissions, Mr Rudd could find himself in conflict with the leading players at the Bali talks, including China and India.
The emissions cuts are considered crucial by many scientists if the world is to avoid dangerous climate change. More than 200 scientists - led by Australian experts - yesterday called on nations at the Bali talks to launch an agreement that would stop the global temperature from rising by more than 2 degrees.
The call, by scientists from more than 20 countries, was spearheaded by Professor Matthew England and Andy Pitman from the University of NSW.
Professor England warned that if the soaring increase in emissions was not halted soon, "our coasts and cities will be threatened by rising sea levels and many plants and animal species will be in serious danger of extinction".
The head of the UN climate team, Yvo de Boer, said in Bali yesterday the suggested cuts were in the range needed if climate change was going to be brought under control.
Speaking after meeting the developed countries, Mr de Boer said: "I think it is clear to everyone that industrialised countries will have to continue to take the lead … [They] will have to reduce their emissions somewhere between 25 per cent and 40 per cent by 2020. So that's an agreed range for industrialised countries."
These targets have become a touchstone issue in Bali even though they will not be part of the final Bali declaration, which is aimed at launching a "road map" for a global agreement to be finalised by 2009.
Mr Rudd is due to attend the high-level stage of the Bali talks next week. He will be confronted by calls from the developing world, led by China and India, to accept that, by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, Australia accepted in principle that developed countries must lead the way by making deep cuts to their emissions by 2020.
Labor has agreed only to set a 2050 target of cutting emissions by 60 per cent and has resisted setting a 2020 goal until it receives a report from the economist Ross Garnaut next year. Senator Wong said yesterday scientific work on the world's future under climate change would inform the Government's position on targets. But "we are only at the beginning", she said.
The Opposition Leader, Brendan Nelson, said the 2020 targets mentioned in Bali would "have a devastating impact on our economic development".
