Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Australian leader Kevin Rudd is struggling to force through legislation aimed at reducing carbon emissions, as he flies to Washington for talks with President Barack Obama on global warming.

Both men have been frustrated in their bid to meet election pledges to tackle climate change, with legislation passing in the lower houses of both countries before stalling in the senate. Meeting Obama on Nov. 30 “will help build momentum towards an ambitious global agreement in Copenhagen,” Rudd said yesterday.

“Obama faces the exact same problem as Rudd, trying to get legislation through the senate, which is heavily influenced by vested interests and lobby groups,” Peter Kenyon, professor of economic policy at Curtin University’s Graduate School of Business in Perth, said yesterday in an interview.

Failure to deliver on the legislation may weaken the hand of rich countries when at least 66 world heads meet in the Danish capital from Dec. 7 to win a global consensus for cutting greenhouse gases. China, which yesterday set its first target for controlling the growth of emissions, on Nov. 25 blamed slow progress in talks on a “lack of good faith” on the part of developed nations.

Rudd’s second attempt in four months to drive the bill through parliament hit a hurdle yesterday when seven members of the opposition shadow cabinet quit in protest over the legislation. Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull’s caused a rift in his party when he offered to support the government legislation.

After Copenhagen

After failing to pass the legislation as planned today, the Senate will reconvene Nov. 30, Labor Senator Chris Evans told the upper house, adding that he didn’t expect the bill to pass until after Copenhagen. After two days of debate, senators have passed only 34 of the more than 200 proposed amendments, he said.

“Even Barack Obama’s Democrats in the US Senate have agreed with the Republican Senate leadership that it makes good sense to delay until after Copenhagen,” said Liberal Senator Eric Abetz.

Rudd was attempting to drive through the bill before he left for Washington, from where he heads to Copenhagen.

“We should do things in the national interest, rather than just give the prime minister a personal victory to take to Copenhagen,” Tony Abbott, a shadow Liberal minister, said yesterday during his resignation speech. Liberal lawmakers will meet on Nov. 30 to decide whether to replace Turnbull.

Negotiations leading up to the summit have been stymied as industrialized and developing countries disagreed on emissions-reduction targets and how much financial help rich nations should provide to poor ones.

‘Shoulder Responsibilities’

“The United States is the biggest developed country in the world, so it should shoulder its historic responsibilities and obligations suitable to its national development level,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang said yesterday.

China said it will cut carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product by between 40 percent and 45 percent by 2020 compared with 2005 levels. China has resisted calls for it to cut its carbon output, saying such measures are unfair for a developing country to undertake.

In an attempt to break the deadlock, Obama will propose cutting U.S. emissions “in the range of 17 percent” from 2005 levels by 2020, Carol Browner, his top adviser on energy and the environment, told reporters Nov. 25.

Emissions caps in Australia may provide a model for countries attending the Copenhagen summit, Robert Stavins, director of Harvard University’s environmental economics program, said earlier this week.

Biggest Polluter

While the U.S. is the biggest greenhouse-gas producer among developed nations, Australia has overtaken it as the biggest per-person emitter of carbon dioxide, U.K. risk analysis firm Maplecroft said Sept. 9.

Rudd on Nov. 24 offered A$7 billion ($6.4 billion) in assistance to coal and electricity producers in return for opposition support for the laws, aimed at cutting the country’s emissions by between 5 percent and 15 percent from their 2000 levels within 10 years.

Coal mining companies lobbied for greater government assistance. Australia is the world’s largest exporter of coal, one of the main causes of greenhouse gases.

The amendments more than double the level of assistance to power producers like AGL Energy Ltd. and Origin Energy Ltd., Australia’s two largest electricity retailers.

The price for producing carbon dioxide will start at A$10 ($9.04) per metric ton until July 2012, after which the market will start setting the cost. European carbon credits closed at 12.98 euros ($19.4) yesterday.

Rudd’s Labor party needs support from seven non-government senators to win passage through the 76-seat upper house.

“If it doesn’t get through it will be an absolute tragedy,” Curtin University’s Kenyon said. “Australia’s status as good global citizens will take a pounding.”

To contact the reporter on this story Jason Scott in Canberra at jscott14@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 27, 2009 00:26 EST