By Michelle Grattan, Mark Forbes, Marian Wilkinson, Nusa Dua and Bali
KEVIN Rudd was resisting international pressure last night to fall into line with a plan for the world's richest nations, including Australia, to accept specific targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
Soon after arriving in Bali for the UN climate change conference, the Prime Minister said he accepted scientists' arguments that developed nations must aim collectively for emission cuts of 25% to 40% if the world is to avoid damaging climate change.
But Mr Rudd stopped short of committing Australia to the proposed wording of a declaration for the Bali conference, which includes the 25% to 40% target range as a basis for negotiations on a new climate agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol.
As he did before leaving for Bali, Mr Rudd maintained his reluctance to nominate specific targets until the completion next year of a study by economist Ross Garnaut, which is examining what would be appropriate and feasible for Australia.
Australian officials are understood to be trying to negotiate a compromise that would support the scientists' conclusions, but without setting specific targets, which are opposed by hardline nations such as the United States, Japan and Canada.
But it is believed that, if the overwhelming consensus of the talks is to back the targets, Australia may fall into line rather than not being part of the process, as happened after the Kyoto agreement was struck in 1997.
At a joint media conference last night with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Mr Rudd restated his long-term target for Australia — reducing emissions to 60% of 2000 levels by 2050.
But on proposed 2020 targets, he was non-committal. "My commitment to the Australian people just prior to the election was that we would proceed on the question of binding commitments in a methodical fashion," Mr Rudd said.
Once the report by Professor Garnaut was finished, "we would be in a position to frame our own interim targets".
Dr Yudhoyono, by contrast, strongly backed the proposed declaration on targets for rich nations. "Indonesia accepts the concept of reducing greenhouse emissions by 25% to 40% for (developed) countries," he said.
"There must be a global partnership; we must come up with a framework that is based on common and differentiated responsibilities."
Mr Rudd's visit to Bali is his first test as PM on the world stage. After his night meeting with Dr Yudhoyono, today he will address the climate conference at Nusa Dua resort, where leaders and officials of 180 nations are trying to agree on a "road map" for the next deal.
After the rapturous reception last week for their quick move to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, Mr Rudd and the Australian delegation are now facing more critical attention from supporters of big emission cuts in Bali.
Greenpeace campaigner Ben Pearson accused the Australian delegation of being "quite obstructive" during the past week of talks, but said he was prepared to give the benefit of the doubt to Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, who arrived in Bali ahead of Mr Rudd.
The head of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Don Henry, said other delegations had reported that the Australians had not been "as forceful and as progressive" as they could be.
Pressure on Mr Rudd was also intensified yesterday by British economist Sir Nicholas Stern, who declared that Australia must commit quickly to much tougher cuts to it greenhouse emissions, if it is to meet Mr Rudd's 2050 reduction target.
Sir Nicholas, the author of last year's pivotal report on climate change, held talks with Treasurer Wayne Swan in Bali and later praised Australia's move to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and its commitment to reduce greenhouse emissions by 60%.
But Sir Nicholas told The Age: "If you are going to be somewhere by 2050 you need to work out the landmarks along the way … You have got to get a long way between where you are now and your 2050 target by 2020."
The UN's chief climate negotiator, Yvo de Boer, emphasised that the draft plan was not intended as a specific target, but a guide for climate change negotiations over the next two years.
He denied reports that, under pressure from the US and others, the target had been dropped from the draft. "The draft text does still include the emissions reductions range of 25-40% by 2020 as something to guide the parties when they begin discussing emissions reductions targets at a later stage," Mr de Boer said.
"Now does that mean that therefore that range is binding? No. Does that mean that all countries have to be inside that range? No. It means that the sum total should be somewhere within that range," he said.
In Norway, former US vice-president Al Gore praised Mr Rudd for making climate change a priority. Accepting his Nobel peace prize, Mr Gore said: "I salute Europe and Japan for the steps they've taken in recent years to meet the challenge, and the new government in Australia, which has made solving the climate crisis its first priority."
"But the outcome will be decisively influenced by two nations that are now failing to do enough: the United States and China," Mr Gore said.
Meanwhile, Premier John Brumby will tell the Bali conference today that Victoria is uniquely placed to be a technology leader in tackling climate change, and to reap the economic benefits of doing so. In a speech to a round table session, he will cite Victoria's strong life-sciences and biotech sector, and his recently upgraded strategic plan on the environment.
Yesterday Mr Brumby met Linda Adams, secretary of the Environment Protection Agency of California, to discuss further co-operation on environmental technologies.