Critics Underwhelmed By US-Australian Climate "Action" Summit

[hatrack]

FOR all the concern about climate change expressed both inside and outside the inaugural meeting of the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, an awful lot of trees were consumed to spread the message. Essentially, the Sydney summit was about ensuring big business continues to make big bucks out of measures to reduce emissions in the six countries that account for half of the world's economic activity and population, and nearly half of its energy consumption.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Australia, China, India, Korea, Japan and the US while promoting economic growth is the aim of the partnership. This was not a conference about the environment but about energy and the best way of using it to promote efficient, environment-friendly economic growth. Miner Xstrata's head of coal, Peter Coates, told The Weekend Australian that unless the partnership countries, especially China and India, "commit to advancing new technologies as one means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, substantial progress won't be made".

EDIT

Catherine Fitzpatrick, Greenpeace's climate and energy campaign leader, was almost incandescent. "Thanks to the work of the Australian and US governments, the delegates to this meeting have agreed to continue the coal trade while watching greenhouse pollution double by 2050, and they have the gall to call that climate protection," she said.

Fitzpatrick said a report by the federal Government's economic researcher, ABARE, released in conjunction with the conference, deliberately misled the public about reduction in greenhouse gas emissions as a result of the climate pact. "ABARE's claim that the pact would lead to 20 per cent reductions in emissions cannot be taken seriously as this is only 20 per cent less than business-as-usual emissions growth, not absolute reductions of 20 per cent," she said. "This means the pact will actually lead to a doubling of greenhouse pollution by 2050, when scientists tell us we must reduce pollution by at least 60 per cent if we are to prevent the worst impacts of climate change."

EDIT

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17814413%255E643,00.html