The Asian Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) Summit ended today with leaders of Pacific Rim economies, including President Obama, having lowered expectations that a legally binding agreement on climate change is not likely to be reached in Copenhagen next month, although they agreed that work toward a political agreement should still be done.
APEC leaders had hoped to endorse a goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to half of 1990 levels by 2050, which had been announced in a joint statement by President Obama and Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama several days earlier in Japan.
Prime Minister Hatoyama said, "By 2050, we have set out this goal of an 80 percent reduction" in greenhouse gas emissions. "Both Japan and U.S. have agreed on this, and we want to make COP-15 a success, and we agreed to cooperate towards this end," he said, referring to the 15th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change that takes place in Copenhagen December 7-18.
President Obama said, "The United States and Japan share a commitment to developing the clean energy of the future and we're focused on combating the threat of climate change." Calling climate an important priority for both nations, Obama said they discussed "how we can work together to pave the way for a successful outcome in Copenhagen next month."
The two leaders agreed to expand their research and development cooperation "to provide solutions to the challenges of global energy security and climate change." They will cooperate on smart grid development, carbon capture and storage, advanced nuclear fuel cycle technologies, renewable energy sources, energy efficient buildings, and next generation vehicles.
However, agreement on this ambitious reduction target could not be reached during the APEC summit, and so was dropped from the draft statement.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke to journalists at the end of the APEC summit and defended the change.
"We didn't drop the emissions," Mr. Lee said. "We negotiated a draft. We settled on a text. I do not know the ins and the outs. But, this is not an occasion for negotiating climate change. This is APEC and is a declaration of intent in good faith. And, negotiations and the formal commitments will be done in the U.N. process which is leading to Copenhagen."
Obama's schedule began early, with an unexpected meeting on climate change called by the leaders of Mexico and Australia.
Over breakfast, the prime minister of Denmark urged the group to back a different approach to save the upcoming international climate conference in Copenhagen.
With negotiations on a new global climate agreement in trouble, there was consensus behind an alternative: adopt a political framework in Copenhagen and fill in the details later.
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