India calls Oz 'Ayatollah'; Negotiators struggle at Copenhagen

Serious differences have emerged between India and Australia over the direction of talks at the climate summit here with environment minister Jairam Ramesh lashing out at Canberra, dubbing it as an "ayatollah" for its one-track approach.

"Australia is sort of the ayatollah of the single track," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh was quoted as saying by the 'Sydney Morning Herald'.

Developing countries are arguing that Australia and its allies are trying to push the outcome of talks away from the Kyoto Protocol, and Ramesh called it "a recipe for disaster".

Ramesh, who cancelled a meeting with Australia's Climate Change Minister Penny Wong aimed at breaking the deadlock yesterday, told the daily that he had not "pulled out... as he was unfortunately too busy" to hold the meet.

"Penny Wong remains a good friend of mine, a very valued colleague," he said.

Wong said: "You will have to ask him," when asked why the meeting was cancelled.

Ramesh also said he would not be cooperating in a session with her to try to break the deadlock even after a request from the Danish head of the UN conference Connie Hedegaard.

Wong said it was "regrettable that there are some who are willing to fight about process rather than negotiate about substance when what is asked of us requires so much more".

With Australia and its allies coming under intense attack over claims that they want to "kill" the Kyoto Protocol, Wong attempted to offer lukewarm support for it.

"I wanted to make very clear there is a lot in the Kyoto Protocol which is good... We need to do what is in the Kyoto Protocol and we need to go further" Wong said.

Meanwhile, an ABC report said that the chief negotiator for 'G77 and China' also accused Australian Premier Kevin Rudd of misleading his people of his position on climate change.

Lumumba Di-Aping, who represents China and G77 group said he had high expectations of Rudd, but throughout negotiations Australia has not matched its actions with its rhetoric.

"The message Kevin Rudd is giving to his people, his citizens, is a fabrication, it's fiction," he said.

"All that Australia has done so far is simply not good enough. It's puzzling in the sense that here is a Prime Minister who actually won the elections because of his commitment to climate change," he added.

Di-Aping said Rudd was the only Prime Minister who came and clearly said "we have to do something, we have to join Kyoto protocol and all the rest".

"And within a very short period of time he changes his mind, changes his position, he starts acting as if he has been converted into climate change scepticism".

Di-Aping accused Rudd of trying to gain a strategic economic advantage by siding with the United States and the European Union at Copenhagen.

"Australia is committed to killing Kyoto," he said.

Rudd told a news conference in Copenhagen that his aim at the climate change talks is to get the best possible agreement in Australia's national interest.

Meanwhile, The chair of the UN climate change talks in Copenhagen sought to overcome deadlock on Wednesday as thousands of protesters planned to storm the conference's venue.

A restricted group of 25 countries, among them Britain, Germany and four other European nations, were to discuss ways of helping the conference's presidency break the impasse, German Environment Minister Nobert Roettgen said.

Roettgen said major problems remained between the Danish presidency of the conference and the G77 group of developing nations, which includes big countries like India and China, but also smaller nations from Africa.

With more than 30 world leaders due to address the conference later in the day, Danish Prime Minister Anders Lokke Rasmussen was entrusted with conducting talks among environment ministers, while chairwoman Connie Hedegaard was to lead informal consultations.

Diplomats in Copenhagen denied Danish reports suggesting a new compromise text had been submitted to the nearly 200 delegations present in Copenhagen.

Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) may raise its target on greenhouse gas emissions cuts to 25 per cent in a bid to encourage other parties to step up their efforts, EU sources told DPA.

The 27-member bloc has already promised to reduce its emissions by 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.

Prior to the start of the Copenhagen conference, the EU said it would raise its target to 30 per cent, but only if other major polluters came up with comparable offers.

The US has so far offered a 17-percent cut against 2005 levels. However, an earlier base year implies deeper cuts. But US negotiators say their longer term targets are far more ambitious.

The improved EU offer would involve an unconditional cut of 25 or 26 percent by 2020, or 30 percent by 2025, according to the German edition of the Financial Times.

Britain and France had been among the EU countries pushing for an unconditional 30-percent offer in Copenhagen.

Outside, police in anti-riot gear erected concrete barriers aimed at preventing thousands of activists from storming the conference's venue.