APEC nations to accept climate change goals-draft

SYDNEY, Sep 8 (Reuters) - Asia-Pacific nations, including China and the United States, will accept for the first time global goals to reduce emissions, according to a draft statement prepared for an APEC summit today.

The declaration, seen as a compromise between the rich and poor APEC economies, reaffirmed the UN climate convention as the primary vehicle for fighting global warming, while urging non-binding targets for greenhouse gas reductions.

The deal marks a victory for Australia, backed by the United States, in getting China and other developing states to set quantifiable goals to tackle climate change, or what Australian Prime Minister John Howard called ''aspirational''targets.

But some analysts said it is probably too little, too late.

''The issue of climate change is so severe that aspirational goals are too late,'' said Mark Diesendorf, senior lecturer at the Institute of Environmental Studies at Australia's University of New South Wales.

''Real goals and real targets are really needed and you cannot reduce energy intensity by raising emissions and lowering energy consumption.'' The pact, however, does set the stage for the UN climate convention's annual summit in Bali, Indonesia in December, which is looking for a successor to the existing UN pact, knowns as the Kyoto Protocol, which is due to expire in 2012.

Howard placed the thorny climate issue at the top of the APEC agenda, seeking a post-Kyoto Protocol consensus to be called the ''Sydney Declaration''.

That caused some consternation among some of the developing economies in APEC, which saw climate change as the latest expansion in the agenda of a group founded in 1989 to advance trade and economic goals.

''We call for a post-2012 international climate change arrangement ... that strengthens, broadens and deepens the current arrangement and leads to reduced global emissions of greenhouse houses,'' the statement said.

Green groups have said the APEC summit would be a failure if it did not agree to binding greenhouse gas reduction targets.

According to the draft statement, APEC leaders will also aim to improve energy efficiency within the region by at least 25 per cent in 2030 from levels in 2005.

They will also aim to increase forest areas within the region by 20 million hectares by 2020.

''If achieved, (it) would store approximately 1.4 billion tonnes of carbons, equivalent to around 11 per cent of annual global emissions,'' it said.

REUTERS SW AS0845