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http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,26493584-5005962,00.html
PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has touched down in Copenhagen to the news that so-called "clean coal" would not be considered as a substitute for clean energy measures.
The summit has decided that the technology will not qualify for climate finance under any new deal.
It was considering allowing carbon capture and storage - which as a heavy user and exporter of coal, Australia strongly supports - to be funded under the Clean Development Mechanism.
This would have made clean coal storage (CCS) cheaper but would have taken away funding from clean energy projects.
The summit noted concern about the proposal and delayed a decision.
Mr Rudd touched down in Copenhagen today and immediately warned that the climate summit may fail.
"There's absolutely no guarantee of success," Mr Rudd told reporters in a Copenhagen hotel as snow fell outside.
"I just believe in telling it like it is."
Mr Rudd said with 190 countries involved and more than 100 heads of government attending, there was a high "degree of difficulty" at the landmark summit.
But he said a final deal was possible and it would come down to the will of the political leaders making their way to the Danish capital.
The two-week summit, due to end on Friday, is floundering because of a bitter split split between rich and poor countries over who should tackle climate change.
"How long's your list?" Mr Rudd replied when asked about the problems at the summit.
A difficult question has been the pledges developing countries make to limit emissions and whether these countries have to open their books to international verification on their emissions.
China is one that does not want to.
Mr Rudd insisted the climate deal had to be verifiable to give it "flesh and form".
"Verification is essential," he said.
Another issue is whether rich countries such as Australia are doing enough to reduce their emissions.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on all developed countries to beef up their promises.
Mr Rudd indicated he would not change Australia's pledge to cut emissions by five to 25 per cent by 2020, saying this represented responsible action and Australia was not willing to do more - or less - than other countries.
The Prime Minister brushed aside criticism from the developing world that he was not doing enough on climate change.
The ABC reports that Lumumba Di-Aping, a Sudanese diplomat who represents developing countries, said Mr Rudd's rhetoric on climate change was "a fabrication" because he was acting like a climate sceptic and taking weak action.
And India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh called Australia "sort of the ayotallah of the single track", telling Fairfax newspapers that Australia was trying to end the Kyoto Protocol and replace with with a single new treaty.
Mr Rudd said accusations came thick and fast when negotiations reached crunch time.
"Conferences like this are full of political rhetoric ... it's necessary to sift out the substance from the sound-and-light show," he said.
Mr Rudd has already had a meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in Copenhagen and is due to meet the Danish organisers of the summit this morning.
He is expected to address the summit on Thursday
