Sydney - Asia-Pacific leaders meeting in Australia next
month are expected to endorse the US mantra that advanced technology
is the antidote to climate change rather than setting binding targets
for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, according to a draft of the
21-member grouping's final communiqué that leaked out Saturday.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) draft declaration
says energy efficiency and preserving forests as carbon sinks are the
way forward on abating climate change - not emissions reductions
targets.
The draft sets great store on cleaning up coal-fired power
stations and the role of nuclear power in reducing carbon emissions.
US President George W Bush and Australian Prime Minister John
Howard are both fiercely opposed to targets for reducing emissions
and are the only two developed world leaders to have refused to sign
the Kyoto Protocol that sets country targets for reductions.
'This is a 'Made in the USA' declaration, covered in Australian
coal dust,' Ben Pearson, from the environmental lobby group
Greenpeace, told The Sydney Morning Herald. 'It's Bush and Howard
trying to look good for elections but actually doing nothing.'
Kerry Nettle, who represents the Greens in federal parliament,
said that APEC's apparent intention to duck binding targets and
embrace just 'aspirational goals' was deeply disappointing.
'We need our leaders to be tackling this as a serious issue and
that means committing to definitive targets as occurred in the Kyoto
Protocol,' Nettle said. 'We don't need George Bush and John Howard
trying to take us backwards from what we achieved as an international
community under the Kyoto Protocol.'
Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who helped draw up the
draft, defended its focus on initiatives other than reducing
emissions.
'If you look at the international agencies' forecasts, they say
that the biggest contributors to reducing growth in greenhouse gas
emissions are firstly energy efficiency, a key priority, and after
that is clean coal - so that's how important it is,' he said.
Bush will arrive in Sydney for the APEC leaders' meeting on
September 4 and leave before it ends on the following Sunday, when
the declaration will be issued.
Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia,
Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea,
Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the US and
Vietnam comprise APEC, which represents half of world trade, a third
of its population and 60 per cent of the output of goods and
services.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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