Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will push for a global emissions trading scheme, as he attends the annual G8 summit of world leaders in Japan.
Record food and oil prices and of course climate change will dominate talks at the Group of Eight Summit to be held on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
Kevin Rudd is representing Australia for the first time, and Labor's election promise for an emissions trading scheme by 2010 will be at the forefront of his agenda.
Mr Rudd will have just six minutes to be the human blowtorch Brendan Nelson wants him to be on climate change.
That's the speaking time allocated for leaders at a gathering of major greenhouse emitters the prime minister will take part in on Wednesday.
Accompanied by Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, Mr Rudd will lobby for global commitments on emissions trading, particularly from China and India.
Greens Leader Bob Brown says Mr Rudd must represent Australia as a world leader on emissions trading, despite claims at home that other countries must act first.
“Our injunction to Kevin Rudd is to join with those others at G8 who want to tackle climate change and give this world security rather than a mess."
The Opposition has warned the PM not to waste the opportunity, after refusing to support an ETS without a worldwide initiative.
Mr Rudd is also scheduled to meet with the Japanese Prime Minister on the final day of the summit.
