Leaders from 21 APEC nations agreed yesterday to set a long-term "aspirational" goal for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions as a guideline to fight climate change after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
"We have decided to highlight the importance of improving energy efficiency by working to achieve an APEC-wide regional aspirational goal of a reduction in energy intensity by at least 25 percent by 2030, with 2005 as the base year," said a copy of the APEC leaders' Sydney Declaration on Climate Change, Energy Security and Clean Development obtained by the Taipei Times.
"We have decided to work to achieve an APEC-wide aspirational goal of increasing forest cover in the region by at least 20 million hectares of all types of forests by 2020 -- a goal which if achieved would store approximately 1.4 billion tonnes of carbon, equivalent to around 11 percent of annual global emissions in 2004," said the declaration, which is expected to be formally released today.
Based on the declaration, APEC members will establish an Asia-Pacific Network for Energy Technology and a network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation to strengthen collaboration on energy research and the forestry sector.
Prior to the meeting, some members opposed the idea of setting a goal for emission reductions, saying the task should be left to the UN Climate Change Convention.
To ease these concerns, the targets will not affect promises that APEC members have made at other international forums on climate change, Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆) said yesterday.
Member economies are encouraged to set individual goals and action plans for improving energy efficiency, reflecting the individual circumstances of the different economies.
The voluntary APEC Energy Peer Review Mechanism, as established by APEC energy ministers in May, will facilitate and review progress and report back to the APEC leaders in 2010, the statement said.
Voicing their support for a multilateral trade system, the leaders agreed to review and discuss the progress achieved in the WTO Doha Development Agenda negotiations at next year's APEC leaders' forum.
Stan Shih (
In principle, business leaders from Canada, Russia and Singapore showed support for the initiative, but in order to promote the program it would need the participation of developed economies such as the US and cooperation of major private enterprises, Shih said.
Taiwan is a major exporter of electronic products and therefore its companies should make a bigger effort to adopt green manufacturing technologies, the Acer Inc founder said.
Meanwhile, Shih shared a light moment with Chinese President Hu Jintao (
"He is very easy to get along with ? I can feel his good intentions," Shih said. "We sat down and talked during a break and he asked where I got my Mandarin accent from. I replied my hometown is Lukang (
Because of time restrictions, Shih did not pass on President Chen Shui-bian's (
Shih talked with representatives from Microsoft Corp and Intel Corp yesterday morning regarding support for Taiwan's Digital Opportunity Center 2.0 project, which aims to eliminate the digital divide among APEC member countries.
As the nation's high-speed rail was the first export of Japan's Shinkansen rail system, Shih also took the chance to invite Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Taiwan and take a trip on the high-rail system.
In a traditional photo session in front of the Sydney Opera House yesterday, all 21 leaders posed in "Driza-Bone" riding coats, full-length traditional Australian bush wear that was chosen as the official national outfit for this year's summit.
Arranged largely by alphabetical order, Shih stood in the second row with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) to his right and Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet to his left.
Shih is scheduled to attend the second day of the summit today and discuss regional economic integration issues.
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
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