APEC Draft Statement Calls for Reversing Climate Change

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Pacific Rim nations reached tentative agreement on the need ``to slow, stop and then reverse'' climate change, setting nonbinding goals to improve energy use, according

Friday, September 7th 2007, 6:36 pm

By: News On 6

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Pacific Rim nations reached tentative agreement on the need ``to slow, stop and then reverse'' climate change, setting nonbinding goals to improve energy use, according to a draft statement Saturday.

The draft statement that leaders at the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit will consider Saturday struck a compromise between rich and developing nations. It set a target to reduce energy intensity 25 percent by 2030 _ a demand by Australia, backed by the United States.

It also affirmed that climate change negotiations should take place under United Nations' auspices, a demand of China and other developing nations.

If President 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.

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.