US to inject more funds for clean energy projects of APP

New Delhi, Oct 16 (UNI) The US has promised more funds to India, China and other member countries of the 'Asia Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate' for implementing various projects aimed at increasing energy efficiency and shifting to clean energy.

Mr James Connaughton, head of the US delegation to second ministerial meeting of APP that ended here yesterday, said in the past fiscal year his country contributed 45 million dollars towards funds that support activities and projects of the Partnership.

The US investment will increase as more projects were identified to meet the goals of the Partnerhsip, said Mr Connaughton, who is a senior environmental and natural resource adviser to US President George Bush and Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, In this context he placed great emphasis on the role of the private sector in fighting climate change. The massive investment required for clean energy can come only from private sector, he added.

''The IEA has estimated that between 205 and 2030, 20 trillion US dollars will be spent in energy supply infrastructure, much of which will come from the private sector. We need to harness this projected investment to advance clean and sustainable energy,'' he said.

''The APP is one of the most important tools to achieve that vision,'' he added.

The US, which has kept out of Kyoto protocol, has played a major role in the launching of the Partnership which has India, Australia, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea as its other founding members.

Canada joined the partnership yesterday.

APP is a non-legally binding framework for international cooperation to facilitate the development, diffusion, deployment and transfer of existing, emerging and long term cost-effective, cleaner and more efficient technologies and practices among the partners.

Mr Connaughton said the APP's focus was on implementation. ''We will move beyond rhetorical committments and translate these ideals into action. At the foundation of the APP is a commitment to economic growth and the strategies we need to take toward this shared investement in clean development,'' he said.

Meanwhile, the APP after its second ministerial meeting here yesterday, announced that it had approved 18 flagship projects which relate to different sectors like buildings, aluminium production, cement industry, hazardous waste, power generation, coal mining, renewable energy and steel production.

The main focus of Partnership projects is on activites such as sectoral assessments, capacity building, identifying best practices and technology research.

The US has so far been refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol which sets manadatory targets on developed nations for reducing carbon emissions while exempting developing countries like India and China.The US wants these countries to commit themselves to tragets.

It feels that the APP was a more flexible mechanism to achieve reduction in carbon emmission as it takes into account the national growth strategies of different countries and it was more practical as its approch was was sector based.

UNI