Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate

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The Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, also known as AP6, is an international non-treaty agreement among Australia, India, Japan, the People's Republic of China, South Korea, and the United States announced July 28 2005 at an Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum meeting and launched on January 12 2006 at the Partnership's inaugural Ministerial meeting in Sydney. Foreign, Environment and Energy Ministers from partner countries agreed to co-operate on development and transfer of technology which enables reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Ministers agreed a Charter, Communique and Work Plan that "outline a ground-breaking new model of private-public taskforcess to address climate change, energy security and air pollution."

Member countries account for around 50% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, GDP and population. Unlike the Kyoto Protocol (currently unratified by both the United States and Australia), which imposes mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions, this agreement allows member countries to set their goals for reducing emissions individually, with no mandatory enforcement mechanism. This has led to criticism that the Partnership is worthless, by other governments, climate scientists and environmental groups.

Contents

1 Aims
2 Areas for collaboration
3 Ministerial meeting
4 Support
5 Criticism
6 See also
7 External links

Aims

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US President George W. Bush called it a "new results-oriented partnership" that he said "will allow our nations to develop and accelerate deployment of cleaner, more efficient energy technologies to meet national pollution reduction, energy security and climate change concerns in ways that reduce poverty and promote economic development." [link] John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister, described the pact as "fair and effective".

However, the Worldwide Fund for Nature stated that "a deal on climate change that doesn't limit pollution is the same as a peace plan that allows guns to be fired" whilst the British Governments' chief scientific adviser, Sir David King, in a BBC interview said he doubted the new deal could work without setting caps on emissions, but added it should be seen as a sign of progress on climate change. [link]

Areas for collaboration

The intent is to:

develop, deploy and transfer existing and emerging clean technology;
meet increased energy needs and explore ways to reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of economies;
build human and institutional capacity to strengthen cooperative efforts; and
seek ways to engage the private sector.

The Partnership's inaugural Ministerial meeting established eight government and business taskforces[link] on (1) cleaner fossil energy; (2) renewable energy and distributed generation; (3) power generation and transmission; (4) steel; (5) aluminium; (6) cement; (7) coal mining; and (8) buildings and appliances.

Ministerial meeting

The inaugural ministerial meeting was held at the Four Seasons Hotel and Government House in Sydney, Australia on January 11 and 12, 2006.

Asia-Pacific Partnership Ministers agreed and released a:

Charter that provides the framework and structure of the Partnership;
Communiqué that highlights key outcomes from this meeting; and
Work Plan that maps out an intensive agenda of work for the taskforces in the near-term.

Copies of the Asia-Pacific documents can be obtained from www.dfat.gov.au/environment/climate/ap6

Partnership Ministers agreed to meet again in 2007.

Support

The Partnership has been publicly supported as an alternative to the Kyoto protocol by governments and business groups in some countries, particularly in countries where the Kyoto protocol has not been ratified. Many commentators have particularly welcomed the fact that the Partnership overcomes the impasse between developed and developing countries under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, and several ASEAN members have expressed interest in joining the partnership in the future.

Criticism

The Partnership has been criticized by environmentalists who have rebuked the proceedings as ineffectual without mandatory limits on greenhouse-gas emissions. U.S. Senator John McCain said the partnership "[amounted] to nothing more than a nice little public relations ploy."[link]

External links

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