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ASIA-PACIFIC COUNTRIES JOIN U.S., AUSTRALIA TO CONTROL CLIMATE
ENS
July 28, 2005

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2005/2005-07-28-04.asp

VIENTAINE, LAOS - Australia, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea and
United States have founded a partnership to address energy security, climate
change and air pollution issues. The six countries combined represent more
than half of the world's economy, population and energy use, and produce
half of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

Announcing their partnership today at the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations' annual ministerial meetings in Vientaine, the six countries issued
a joint Vision Statement that pledges to "develop, deploy and transfer
existing and emerging clean technology."

Calling their new team the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and
Climate, the partners also promised to "explore ways to reduce the
greenhouse intensity of our economies; build human and institutional
capacity to strengthen cooperative efforts; and seek ways to engage the
private sector."

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said the new initiative is "a
complement, not an alternative," to the 1992 United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

Each of the six partners has a differerent status under the Kyoto Protocol,
which requires industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
an average of 5.2 percent by 2012.

Japan has ratified the treaty and is legally bound by its provisions. The
United States and Australia have declined to ratify, while the treaty does
not apply binding emissions limits to China, India and South Korea.

Still, these developing countries are required to implement policies and
measures to address climate change, taking into account their specific
circumstances and with the support of developed countries.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said, "We are not trying to
detract from Kyoto and the commitments that a number of countries have made
under the Kyoto Protocol."

"From Australia's point of view our argument is essentially two fold," he
said. "First of all, climate change is a serious problem and it needs
serious solutions. The serious solutions first of all involve all countries,
not just some countries, and we must ensure that developing and developed
countries are all involved in addressing these issues. And secondly, in the
end, the key to solving these problems is going to be technology."

On behalf of the United States, Zoellick said, "to give you a sense of our
own commitment to this overall process, the United States under the Bush
administration has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 0.3 percent during
the first three years. And just to give you a set of contrasts, carbon
dioxide emissions in all the other G8 countries increased during this
period, for example the EU 15 by 3.6 percent and the EU 25 by 3.4 percent."

"So we are committed to trying to address this effort," said Zoellick. "We
just think that there is a better way to do it than the requirements of the
Kyoto treaty. But we respect those who have pledged to those requirements
and we understand their interest in trying to achieve them."

Areas for collaboration may include energy efficiency, clean coal,
integrated gasification combined cycle, liquefied natural gas, carbon
capture and storage, combined heat and power, methane capture and use,
civilian nuclear power, geothermal, rural/village energy systems, advanced
transportation, building and home construction and operation, bioenergy,
agriculture and forestry, hydropower, wind power, solar power, and other
renewables.

Downer called the partnership "innovative and a fresh new development for
the environment, for energy, security and for economic development in the
region."

"We all recognize the Asia Pacific region's increasing energy needs," Downer
said. "We all recognize the fundamental importance of economic development,
and we all recognize the importance of addressing environmental issues, such
as climate change and air pollution. The core element of the partnership is
policy integration."

Liu Yongxing, Chinese ambassador to Laos, said,"Climate change is not only
an environmental issue but also a development issue. The essence of
addressing climate change is to achieve sustainable development. The key
lies in innovation and the transfer of technology information and concrete
international cooperation."

Developing countries such as India will utilize this partnership to bridge
the enormous gap between large populations that have no electricity and the
high-tech world of nanotechnology and nuclear fusion.

Raoul Inderjit Singh, Union Minister of State for External Affairs of India,
said, "Despite progress at many levels, even today 43 percent of our
households still do not have access to electricity. With its growing economy
India's energy needs are going to increase in the future. We are, however,
also conscious of the need to develop in a balanced manner and have
therefore taken a number of steps at the National level to achieve energy
efficiency."

"I am particularly pleased," said Singh, "that new technologies such as nano
technologies, advanced biotechnology, next generation nuclear fusion and
fusion technology have been included for collaboration between the
partners."

Shinichi Nishimiya, deputy director general of the Asian-ASEAN Department,
Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, represented Japan, which is a Party to
the Kyoto Protocol.

"We understand and we believe that this new Partnership is something that is
complementary to the Kyoto Protocol and efforts under the Kyoto Protocol, so
therefore by tackling various matters under the new partnership would bring
about a synergy effect with the Kyoto Protocol efforts as well in dealing
with the global warming issue," he said.

Japan has gone through various shocks, said Nishimiya, "the oil crisis; the
very, very bad environmental degradation a few decades ago; and through
those experiences has developed wonderful technology in terms of conserving
energy as well as environment friendly technology."

Ban Ki Moon, foreign minister of the Republic of Korea, said his country is
placing particular emphasis on technical cooperation with the other partner
countries. "This Partnership can help address the concerns on climate change
and achieve sustainable development at the same time by focusing on
technology development and capacity building efforts in such areas as energy
security and air pollution reduction," he said.

Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment
Programme welcomed the plan and stressed that it will not interfere with the
Kyoto Protocol.

³It is important to mention that this new initiative is not a substitute for
the Kyoto Protocol, its legally binding emission reductions and its various
flexible mechanisms including emission trading and the Clean Development
Mechanism," said Toepfer. "We also urgently need more investment in
climate-vulnerable developing countries to help them adapt to the climate
change that is already underway."

³Rapidly developing economies like China and India need new and more
efficient energy technologies if they are to lift their populations out of
poverty without compromising the environment or destabilizing the global
economy,² he said.

³Countries like the United States are now equally aware that being dependent
on fossil fuels is and will be an increasing burden in the future. They now
recogniae that a more diversified fuel supply that includes technologies
like cleaner coal and renewables alongside greater energy efficiency makes
economic as well as environmental sense,² said Toepfer.

No budget has yet been established for the partnership's activities. Downer
said it will be "a true partnership over a long time frame, with each
partner bringing different value to the table. No one has, at this stage,
sought to pre-determine the contribution members will make."

Zoellick said the United States devotes about, over US$5 billion dollars a
year to climate change issues and a large part of that is technology and
development. He said it is important "for us to learn how to be able to
expand the use of this technology," and to do that, "we have to listen to
our developing country colleagues about some of their particular problems."

Zoellick spent the four years 2001 to 2004 as U.S. Trade Representative,
where he says he learned the importance of being "able to build on mutual
interests of developed and developing countries together if one is going to
take on global challenges."

"India and China in particular both have huge development challenges of
which energy is a critical component. So part of the nature of this
partnership is not just for us to roll out technology," Zoellick said. "It
is from them we get a better understanding of some of the challenges they
face, some of their development plans and try to see how we can connect that
together in an effective network."

Discussions are already underway on the practical elements, including a work
plan and a wide range of technology areas for possible collaboration.

Australia will host the inaugural ministerial meeting of the partnership in
Adelaide in November. Foreign, environment and energy ministers from each
member country will be invited to build on the principles in the Vision
Statement.

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Published by David Sunfellow
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
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