From The Australian newspaper

KEVIN Rudd picked up two flags in front of him as he opened his speech last night to the Global Foundation's clean energy conference in Beijing.

Holding first the Australian flag then the Chinese flag, he said: "This is the largest coal exporter, this is the largest coal consumer.

"If between us we can't fix this problem, I don't think the rest of the world will think well of us. It's a core challenge."

Last night's gathering, he said, was focused on "the greatest economic and environmental challenge we'll be facing this century".

"Unless all of us are moving in the same direction, towards effectively saving the planet, then we will not be fulfilling our responsibility to the next generation," Mr Rudd said.

In his audience were the heads of many of Australia's biggest companies, including Telstra chairman Donald McGauchie, Future Fund chairman David Murray and ANZ chief executive Mike Smith.

From China's biggest companies and government departments came China National Offshore Oil Corporation chairman Fu Chengyu, China Shenhua Energy Company chief executive Ling Wen and Xie Zhenhua, China's environmental protection chief.

One of Mr Rudd's first acts as Prime Minister last year was to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. But Australia, and his Government, are also enjoying the economic bonanza from China's and the developing world's demand for national resources, including coking coal used in steelmaking and thermal coal burned to generate energy.

There is a recognition that any solution to climate change must involve the developing world containing its greenhouse gas emissions alongside developed countries such as Australia.

Mr Rudd, flanked by his Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, said that through commercial, scientific and political expertise and enthusiasm, "we have it in our hands to produce a solution for the planet".

"What is missing is a common resolve to press ahead," he said. "I hope that in my time we reach that resolve between us, because Ibelieve we have a common responsibility."

He said that he had arrived in China - the last leg on his 17-day world tour - after talking to the prime ministers of Britain and Norway and the presidents of the US, the European Union and South Africa. About "a third of the global discourse", he said, was focused on climate change issues.

He said all three US presidential candidates - John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama - were committed to significant action involving targets.

But unless all economies could agree on a path forward, there was "a great risk that we will undermine our long-term capacity for development". He said it was crucial for the world community to agree on a global target on carbon emissions.

"We are driven by the science, and if the science tells us we need to stabilise emissions at a certain level by a certain time (or irreversible and unsustainable climate change will result), this has toinform our carbon targets," hesaid.

So far, China has been reluctant to fix targets, calling on developed countries to recognise their per capita emissions remain much higher than the developing world.