Market solution for climate change: APEC

APEC finance ministers have agreed to pursue climate change and energy security through a global framework under the eye of the United Nations.

Federal Treasurer Peter Costello says the meeting made a major breakthrough by bringing together the concepts of the environment, energy and the economy.
It was the last ministerial meeting before the September APEC Leaders Meeting in Sydney, where a police presence will be much more visible.

Ministers from the 21 APEC economies also agreed that climate change and energy security were best addressed through market-based solutions that help to sustain economic growth.

“It was a breakthrough to get this on the agenda, it was a breakthrough to deal with it by marrying the environment and the economy and energy – the three ‘E’s’,” Mr Costello told journalists after his meetings with the other delegates had finished.

Mr Costello said what was even more pleasing was China, as one of the world’s largest carbon emitters, talking about a market mechanism for dealing with carbon emissions.

The West Australian