APEC Nations to Accept Climate Change Goals - Draft
Date: 10-Sep-07
Country: AUSTRALIA
Author: Jalil Hamid
The declaration, seen as a compromise between the rich and
poor APEC economies, reaffirmed the UN climate convention as
the primary vehicle for fighting global warming, while urging
non-binding targets for greenhouse gas reductions.
The deal marks a victory for Australia, backed by the
United States, in getting China and other developing states to
set quantifiable goals to tackle climate change, or what
Australian Prime Minister John Howard called "aspirational"
targets.
But some analysts said it is probably too little, too late.
"The issue of climate change is so severe that aspirational
goals are too late," said Mark Diesendorf, senior lecturer at
the Institute of Environmental Studies at Australia's
University of New South Wales.
"Real goals and real targets are really needed and you
cannot reduce energy intensity by raising emissions and
lowering energy consumption."
The pact, however, does set the stage for the UN climate
convention's annual summit in Bali, Indonesia in December,
which is looking for a successor to the existing UN pact,
knowns as the Kyoto Protocol, which is due to expire in 2012.
Howard placed the thorny climate issue at the top of the
APEC agenda, seeking a post-Kyoto Protocol consensus to be
called the "Sydney Declaration".
That caused some consternation among some of the developing
economies in APEC, which saw climate change as the latest
expansion in the agenda of a group founded in 1989 to advance
trade and economic goals.
"We call for a post-2012 international climate change
arrangement ... that strengthens, broadens and deepens the
current arrangement and leads to reduced global emissions of
greenhouse houses," the statement said.
Green groups have said the APEC summit would be a failure
if it did not agree to binding greenhouse gas reduction
targets.
According to the draft statement, APEC leaders will also
aim to improve energy efficiency within the region by at least
25 percent in 2030 from levels in 2005.
They will also aim to increase forest areas within the
region by 20 million hectares by 2020.
"If achieved, (it) would store approximately 1.4 billion
tonnes of carbons, equivalent to around 11 percent of annual
global emissions," it said.
(Additional reporting by Chisa Fujioka and Anirban Nag)
