SYDNEY (AFP) — Asia Pacific countries have agreed a common statement on climate change after intense wrangling between rich and emerging nations, a source involved in the talks said Friday.
The document, which is not binding, contains an "aspirational" target of reducing energy intensity but also stresses the primacy of the United Nations in the fight against climate change.
Drafted by experts of the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, the six-page text now goes for approval to APEC leaders meeting this weekend at a summit in Sydney.
The source, a senior Southeast Asian official who was closely involved in the negotiations, said the statement urges nations to reduce energy intensity by 25 percent by 2030 but does not make an enforceable commitment.
"It is an aspirational goal, not a binding commitment," the source added. "Even though there is a numerical target, APEC is not a binding organisation."
He also said the statement was "formulated in such a way that it does not prejudice" the UN process.
Australia had touted a tough statement on climate change, which would draw in emerging nations to make cuts in greenhouse gases, as a cornerstone of the gathering.
But it triggered a fierce debate here, with emerging nations led by China saying they did not want to be bound by any commitments.
They said all attention should be focused on a UN climate change conference in Bali in December, which aims to lay the groundwork for a treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol on curbing emissions.
"We cannot pre-judge the results of the Bali meeting," the official said. "The UNFCCC is like a Bible," referring to the UN meeting.
The bickering was all part of a wider tussle to shape the framework of a successor to Kyoto, which was signed under the auspices of the United Nations in 1997 but runs out in 2012.
What also irked environmental activists was that Australia and the United States are the only two industrialised nations to have refused to ratify that landmark UN accord.
Australia, backed by the United States, said Kyoto was basically flawed as it did not commit emerging nations, notably China and India with their booming economies, to make cuts in emissions, and that any replacement treaty had to close the loophole.
US President George W. Bush said here earlier this week that for any fresh accord to be effective, "China needs to be at the table."
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer had appeared downbeat earlier Friday as the "very difficult" negotiations went down to the wire.
"If we can get a good declaration out of this, that would be a very great achievement. But I make no predictions about how those negotiations will go. We're still working at it," he said.
Chinese President Hu Jintao spearheaded the opposition, insisting Thursday that the United Nations must take the lead in agreeing a new treaty.
Philippines President Gloria Arroyo, too, said Friday that the proper way ahead was via the Bali conference.
"It includes all the countries in the world and there is some binding characteristic, some binding trait in UN resolutions, whereas APEC doesn't cover all the 'climate makers' and it's non-binding," she said.
While it was good to discuss the issue at APEC, she added, "at the end of the day, the final resolution should really be in the context of the UN."
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