Aug 02, 2005 08:40
Heh, after all the stuff that was in the news after the US refused to sign in to the Kyoto treaty, I would have thought that there would be more written about the 'Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate' that has finally gotten organized and started up.
The pact includes the U.S., Japan, Australia, China, India and South Korea; these six countries account for most of the world's carbon emissions. The treaty is, in essence, a technology transfer agreement. The U.S., Japan and Australia will share advanced pollution control technology, and the pact's members will contribute to a fund that will help implement the technologies. The details are still sketchy and more countries may be admitted to the group later on. The pact's stated goal is to cut production of "greenhouse gases" in half by the end of the century.