Canada and Japan have emerged as the linchpins of the APEC climate change agreement described by Prime Minister Stephen Harper as a “big, big step” towards reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.
The two nations were explicitly singled out for credit in the body of the text for their efforts in getting the agreement, given the divisions within the disparate APEC forum.
“We and a couple of others stood firm,” said a senior Canadian official at a briefing late Saturday.
But getting the growing Asian economies to agree to targets of 50 per cent reductions in emissions by 2050, said the official, “was a bridge too far.”
In the end, leaders of Pacific Rim countries reached a draft agreement on climate change Saturday which does not bind countries to meeting firm goals, sketches out a blueprint for improving energy use “to slow, stop and then reverse” climate change.
It was reached after big polluters, including China, signed on to the Australian-led initiative.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard told reporters 21 Asia-Pacific leaders had agreed to a “Sydney Declaration” on climate change, calling it “a new international consensus.”
But Green groups called it a failure without binding targets.
“The Sydney Declaration is really just a Sydney distraction from real action on climate change,” Greenpeace energy campaigner Catherine Fitzpatrick said.
At a press conference before the deal was reached, Mr. Harper spoke about the need for APEC countries to agree on a shared strategy to reduce emissions.
“Canada, Japan and others have articulated a specific goal we would like to see,” he said, adding that they had suggested reducing emissions by half by 2050. The agreement calls for a reduction of 25 per cent by 2030.
The Prime Minister said any agreement that involved countries such as China and the United States that have not signed on to the Kyoto accord would be a success.
Pointing to another deal reached at the Group of Eight summit this year on the need for goals, he said: “I think if we got the same kind of statement here — to even suggest that there has to be a goal and everybody has to be involved in reaching that goal — then we've made progress,” he told a press conference.
In advance of the APEC summit, aides to Mr. Harper had said consensus on climate change was one of his primary ambitions.
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.
The draft agreement included two goals that Australia wanted APEC to agree on. It called for the reduction of “energy intensity” — the amount of energy needed to produce economic growth — and increasing forest cover in the region by at least 20 million hectares by 2020. Forests help absorb the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.
Both goals are nonbinding in keeping with APEC's voluntary, consensus-based approach.
“We support a flexible arrangement that recognizes diverse approaches,” the draft said.
In a concession to developing countries, the statement recognizes “common but differentiated responsibilities” in fighting climate change. The phrase means richer nations will have to bear more of the financial costs and other burdens in cutting carbon emissions.
The draft calls for laying the groundwork for a new climate change agreement to replace the UN-backed Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012. A series of meetings on a Kyoto successor will take place in coming months, including a UN meeting in Bali in December.
With files from Reuters, Canadian Press and Associated Press
