APEC Leaders Ready to Set Measurable Energy Efficiency Goal

A climate change declaration setting a precise energy efficiency goal is expected to come out of the two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders Summit that began here today. In an effort to address global warming, the leaders are expected to agree to improve energy efficiency by at least 25 percent above the 2005 level by 2030.

The non-binding numerical targets indicate that APEC leaders wish to throw their political muscle behind an international push to avert the worst consequences of a warming planet. The leaders will support goals on both on energy intensity and forest expansion, said a source close to the negotiations.
This is the first year that leaders from the 21 APEC member economies have included climate change discussions in their annual summit.

The leaders of the world’s two largest greenhouse gas emitters – U.S. President George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao – said Thursday that they support international cooperation to deal with global warming.

“We talked about climate change and our desire to work together on climate change,” Bush said at a news conference after their meeting.

Hu said, “We believe that the issue of climate change bears on the welfare of the whole humanity and sustainable development of the whole world. And this issue should be appropriately tackled through stronger international cooperation.”

Bush continued to promote his policy of using technology to limit greenhouse gas emissions and made no mention of an international agreement reached in Vienna last week to limit emissions by 25 to 40 percent in the period after the current Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

In a briefing Thursday, White House spokesperson Dana Perino said, “President Bush indicated the U.S. intended to support a strong leaders’ declaration on climate change and encouraged President Hu to do likewise. President Bush also invited President Hu to consider eliminating tariffs on environmental and clean energy technologies.”

Russia is a member of the Kyoto Protocol, yet President Vladimir Putin said after his private meeting with Bush, “We also discussed the environmental issues, in particular in connection with the forthcoming APEC summit. I should tell you that we have very close positions on these matters.”

President Putin and Prime Minister Howard announced Friday that they signed a nuclear cooperation agreement to allow the supply of Australian uranium for use in Russia’s expanding civil nuclear power industry.

ENS Newswire