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Countries reach deal on global warming
2007-09-07
Pacific Rim nations reached preliminary agreement Friday on a declaration for tackling climate change, overcoming squabbling between rich and poor nations about emissions targets, two Southeast Asian officials said. The joint statement, drafted by diplomats over four days, then went to the 21 national leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit who must give their final approval by Saturday, when President Bush was scheduled to leave early. With the leaders meeting far behind a security cordon at the Sydney Opera House, activist groups hoped 20,000 people would turn out Saturday for a march against Bush, the Iraq war and corporate interests. About 1,000 protesters scuffled with police Friday near a summit hotel. If Bush, Chinese President Hu Jintao and the 19 other leaders accepted the draft statement, it would mark a victory for Australia and the U.S., which have sought to persuade China and other developing nations to commit to firmer goals for combatting global warming. "Everybody cannot get everything, but everybody did not lose too much," said Salman Al-Farisi, an Indonesian official involved in the talks that drafted the agreement. Ong Keng Yong, secretary-general of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, also said agreement had been reached. APEC includes four of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming -- the U.S., China, Russia and Japan -- so an agreement could potentially affect the wider international debate on addressing climate change. Officials said earlier in the week that it was almost certain some kind of agreement would be worked out, but it wasn't clear if the draft would be acceptable to all the leaders. To strike the accord, negotiators agreed to set a target to reduce "energy intensity" -- the amount of energy needed to produce economic growth, Al-Farisi said. Australian Prime Minister John Howard previously called for reducing energy intensity 25 percent by 2030. A Southeast Asian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that goal was included in the draft. In return for the reduction target, Al-Farisi said, the statement called for "common but differentiated responsibilities," meaning richer nations would bear more of the financial and other costs for cutting carbon emissions. Howard and Bush hoped an APEC agreement would bring a new international consensus on global warming. The U.S. and Australia refused to ratify the U.N.-backed Kyoto Protocol in part because it exempted developing nations from stringent emissions targets imposed on industrialized countries. Aside from climate change, the APEC leaders were expected to issue a statement urging a renewed push in stalled global trade talks. On the sidelines of the summit, Bush debated Russian President Vladimir Putin on missile defense and held a testy exchange with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on forging a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War. Bush, Howard and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe planned a breakfast meeting Saturday on security issues, drawing criticism from China, which fears encirclement. ___ Associated Press writers Rod McGuirk and Tom Raum contributed to this report.
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