Climate conference visit unlikely - PM

Prime Minister John Key could still attend the Copenhagen conference on climate change, saying there is "a tiny window of opportunity".

Key confirmed yesterday he had been invited to next month's meeting.

However, he said there was a "95 per cent chance" he would not go to Denmark.

"I can't say I unequivocally won't go, but I'm not likely to go," Key said.

"There is a tiny window of opportunity, but it's very unlikely."

Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen has invited all heads of state to Copenhagen, with 40 leaders confirming their conference attendance – including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

United States President Barack Obama is considering travelling to Copenhagen, while Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been invited as a "friend of the chair".

Greenpeace has been trying to get Key to attend the gathering.

Actress Lucy Lawless and climate scientist Jim Salinger visited Parliament yesterday, with a cheque for Key's economy-class airfare.

Lawless and Salinger said Greenpeace's "Send John Key to Copenhagen" campaign had raised $4781 through cake stalls, sausage sizzles, donations and auctions.

"People from all corners of the country have given to the Key to Copenhagen cause, because they believe John Key must go to Copenhagen," Lawless said.

However, Key did not meet the pair. Key said he understood there was symbolism in his attendance at Copenhagen.

However, he did not want to "burn a lot of greenhouse gases" to go to a meeting where there was unlikely to be a binding agreement.

"Effectively, we're already sending our best people in terms of [Trade Minister] Tim Groser and [Climate Change Minister] Nick Smith, and they're going to be involved in detailed negotiations.

"I'm not sure I could add a lot to the equation."

Earlier, Key faced the wrath of farmers over National's proposed emissions trading scheme (ETS).

At a Federated Farmers meeting in Wellington, president Don Nicolson called for the scheme to be scrapped, saying the Government was "obsessed" with carbon emissions.

Nicolson said he had "had a gutsful" of farmers being blamed for greenhouse-gas emissions.

"Taxpayers are yet to wake up to the fact that the ETS is a three-letter word for tax," he said.

Nicolson said it was impossible to grow the economy without producing more greenhouse gases.

"There's nothing unique in what he's told us – the same sort of story has been told to us for a long, long time. But guess what, we're the ones with the skin in the game." Key said new Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry figures showed the average farmer would pay about $3000 a year under the scheme by 2020, which was less than their ACC levies.

If New Zealand did not include agriculture in the the scheme, it would open up farmers to consumer boycotts in the northern hemisphere, he said.

"On a relative basis, this is not the big deal that you think.

"Ultimately, you can be part of the solution, or part of the problem."

- © Fairfax NZ News