INTERNATIONAL: September 4, 2007


Climate change will be a major focus when leaders of 21 Asia-Pacific economies meet in Sydney this week.


No binding targets for greenhouse gas reductions are expected to be agreed but officials might back a consensus on what a replacement for the UN Kyoto Protocol climate change pact might look like.

Many governments want environment ministers meeting at UN climate talks in Bali, Indonesia, in December to launch two-year negotiations to agree a broader international treaty to replace Kyoto.


WHAT'S AT STAKE

Kyoto's first phase runs out in 2012 and there are growing diplomatic efforts to find a formula that brings rich and developing nations together to curb emissions growth of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Scientists say time is running out to stop damaging climate change caused by a build-up of these gases in the atmosphere.

Big polluters such as China, India, the United States and Australia are firmly opposed to binding emissions cuts, saying this will harm their economies. Developing nations also want rich countries to agree to deep cuts first, blaming the industrialised world for much of the greenhouse gas pollution already in the air.


WHAT'S BEEN AGREED ON CLIMATE CHANGE THIS YEAR

June 2007 - Rich nations in the Group of Eight said they wanted agreement by the end of 2009 on a long-term UN plan to fight global warming, partly in response to warnings of ever more floods, droughts, heatwaves and rising sea levels.

The G8 agreed at a summit in Germany that "resolute and concerted international action" was urgently needed, vowing to stem a rise in greenhouse gases, followed by "substantial" reductions. They didn't specify what they meant by substantial.

Aug 2007 - Industrial countries agree at 158-nation talks to non-binding emissions cuts of between 25 and 40 percent below 1990 levels. The agreement is seen as a starting point for rich nations' work on a new pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

Delegates to the talks in Vienna agreed that the 25-40 percent range for non-binding cuts by 2020 "provides useful initial parameters for the overall level of ambition of further emissions reductions".


WHAT'S NEXT

-- Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum leaders meet in Sydney, including US President George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao, for a summit on Sept. 8-9.

-- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon plans to hold a high-level meeting on climate change on Sept. 24 on the fringes of the UN General Assembly's annual session in New York.

-- President Bush has called a meeting of major emitters in Washington on Sept. 27-28 to work out future cuts.

-- Dec. 3-14 UN meeting on climate change in Bali.


NOTABLE PLEDGES, INITIATIVES

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says developing countries should be allowed to increase their emissions per capita while industrialised nations cut theirs, until both sides reached the same level. India has also discussed this idea as a possible compromise.

At June's G8 summit, leaders agreed to consider Merkel's aim for a 50 percent cut in emissions by 2050. Japan has also proposed cutting its emissions in half by 2050.

Australia's Howard will push APEC leaders to address the climate change issue by agreeing to a "post-Kyoto framework", though without binding emission targets.

Howard announced A$70 million (US$58 million) in Asia-Pacific climate change initiatives on Sunday, which will help fund the development and deployment of cleaner, more efficient energy technologies in the region. (Source: Reuters) (Compiled by David Fogarty; Singapore World Desk, +65 6870 3814)


REUTERS NEWS SERVICE