Pushing for "ambitious" outcome in climate change talks

APEC leaders said in the declaration that they are committed to work towards an "ambitious" outcome on an upcoming major U.N. climate change conference but leaders dropped a specific target to cut greenhouse gas emission in the declaration.

"Anthropogenic climate change is one of the biggest global challenges. It will impact each of our economies," the APEC leaders' declaration said, adding "We...reaffirm our commitment to tackle the threat of climate change and work towards an ambitious outcome in Copenhagen, within the objective, provisions and principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)."

But leaders pulled back from putting a time-frame to reach the 50 percent emission cut target by 2050 as appeared in the draft declaration. A Chinese official familiar with the discussion told a press briefing Saturday that the emission cut proposal was scrapped for fear that the binding provision on a controversial issue might disrupt the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen.

State and government leaders from about 190 countries are expected to attend the U.N. Copenhagen conference on Dec. 7-18. The meeting is expected to lay the ground for renewing greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets set by the Kyoto Protocol before they expire in 2012.

Eighteen APEC leaders, including Chinese President Hu Jintao, Sunday held an informal breakfast discussion on climate change. Hu said the Copenhagen conference was an important meeting of the international community to cooperate on climate change and pushing for a positive result of the conference conforms to the common interests of all parties.

The 21-member APEC accounts for approximately 60 percent of the world energy consumption. In 2007, APEC leaders set an aspirational target of reducing energy intensity by at least 25 percent by 2030. Without mentioning specific progress, the declaration said "we applaud the efforts made by individual APEC economies that have unilaterally undertaken measures to reduce emissions."

"Global action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will need to be accompanied by measures, including financial assistance and technology transfer to developing economies for their adaptation to the adverse impact of climate change," the declaration added.