Aug 18, 2007, 5:47 GMT
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.
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