Sydney, Nov 6 (AFP) Powerful climate change skeptics were “holding the world to ransom”, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said today as he warned of fear campaigns designed to derail global talks.
Rudd said naysayers were active in every country as the world approached the United Nations’ climate summit in Copenhagen in December.
“They are a minority. They are powerful. And invariably they are driven by vested interests,” he said.
Rudd said it was difficult to move towards a global agreement in the face of those who denied climate change was caused by human activity, those who refused to act on the evidence, or who wanted other countries to act first.
“As we approach Copenhagen, these three groups of climate skeptics are quite literally holding the world to ransom,” he told policy think-tank the Lowy Institute in Sydney.
