Danish environment minister Connie Hedegaard has resigned as head of the UN climate change conference.

Although her reasons for stepping down are unclear, it is known that prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen will replace her as president over the last few days of the talks.

Meanwhile, protests are being staged in Copenhagen today in response to the ongoing climate change negotiations.

Numerous protestors met at daybreak to march towards the summit venue with police revealing that they have arrested around a hundred of them. The Danish authorities are letting fewer activists enter the premises where the talks are being held, although the BBC reports that some protesters have threatened to enter illegally.

Campaigners have been incensed by the limited progress made towards securing a deal on climate change.

Three days before the deal is scheduled to be completed, countries are still deliberating whether to increase the global temperature rise to 2C or to 1.5C, and are also unsure about other issues including emission cuts and providing aid to poorer countries.

The UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon suggested to the Financial Times that a deal on climate change may not include money going to developing countries, but he enforced that “there needs to be some initial arrangement”.

According to the BBC, Ethiopian president Meles Zenawi will suggest ways to raise funds such as taxes on shipping fuel and aviation, while other African countries will not endorse these measures.

Gordon Brown admitted to Sky News that he thought a deal on climate change would be an “uphill struggle”.

The prime minister added: “Many may walk away from a deal.”

However, Barack Obama’s spokesperson has said the American president “believes that we can get… an operational agreement that makes sense in Copenhagen, over the next few days”.

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