At Summit, Asian Nations Sign Energy Accord urges Asian countries to “consider” the use of hydropower, nuclear power and biofuels like ethanol as an alternative to crude oil and natural gas. But it acknowledges that “fossil fuels underpin our economies, and will be an enduring reality in our lifetimes
At Summit, Asian Nations Sign Energy Accord
By CARLOS CONDE
Published: January 15, 2007
CEBU, the Philippines, Jan. 15 — Leaders from 16 Asian nations signed an energy security accord today that they said would reduce the region’s dependence on fossil fuels and promote the use of alternative energy sources.
Japan, one of the signatories, pledged $2 billion in aid to Asian countries to improve energy efficiency and to adopt technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The leaders at the summit also tentatively endorsed a Japanese proposal for a pan-Asian free-trade zone that would include India, Australia and New Zealand. The proposal apparently overcame Chinese objections voiced at a similar summit a year ago in Kuala Lumpur, when China argued that those three nations’ economies were not compatible with an East Asian free trade zone.
Japan’s proposal this year would include all 16 countries taking part in the summit: Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. Together they are home to about half the world’s people. The free-trade area would lower and harmonize tariffs and trade rules among the 16 nations.
Helen Clark, prime minister of New Zealand, said at the summit that her country would vigorously support the proposal. “This will be a very, very significant bloc,” she said.
The Cebu Declaration on East Asian Energy Security, announced today, listed a wide range of goals, including a promise to “mitigate greenhouse gas emissions through effective policies and measures.”
But environmentalists in the region have said that the pact offers no meaningful goals, and that it compares poorly with the European Union’s new energy policy, unveiled last week. The European policy calls for a 20-percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions over 13 years.
“Any serious attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has goals and time frames, and this hasn’t,” Christine Milne, an Australian senator from the ecology-oriented Green party. “In my view, it’s just business as usual for coal exports to China.”
Aside from the $2 billion in Japanese aid announced by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, there was no discussion of how to pay for the steps called for in the energy declaration.
The declaration urges Asian countries to “consider” the use of hydropower, nuclear power and biofuels like ethanol as an alternative to crude oil and natural gas. But it acknowledges that “fossil fuels underpin our economies, and will be an enduring reality in our lifetimes.”
The signatories promise in general terms to “improve the efficiency and environmental performance of fossil fuel use,” and reduce their dependence on conventional fuels by encouraging energy efficiency and conservation.
Seven of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the core group organizing the summit meeting, have significant oil and gas reserves. In addition, Australia and India, which are attending the summit as nonmembers, have large coal deposits.
Even so, energy security remains a major concern, officials said. While the Asean nations produce 11 percent of the world’s oil, they consume even more — 21 percent — making them as reliant on Middle East oil imports as the United States is.
This year’s summit has been hailed by participants as more productive than usual, countering talk that the group has been drifting toward toothless irrelevance.
Chinese and Japanese officials said that the summit offered an opportunity to repair relations with the 10 Southeast Asian nations that had been frayed recently by lingering territorial disputes and by sensitivities over Japanese commemorations of Word War II, when Japan’s army occupied the 10 Asean nations (all but Thailand were Western colonies or protectorates before the war), as well as much of China.
“Through efforts of both sides, we overcame problems obstructing the development of relations,” the Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, was reported to have said Sunday. “I am happy to see China-Japan relations moving forward.”
On Sunday, Mr. Wen, Mr. Abe and President Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea met to discuss trade and energy issues. It was the first trilateral meeting of the three northeast Asian leaders in two years.
The summit has also produced agreements on fighting terrorism, protecting migrant workers and future economic integration.
Tim Johnston contributed reporting from Sydney, Australia. |
