Clean energy is life or death for planet-Australia

By Michelle Nichols

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Breakthroughs on cleaner energy
technology are a matter of life and death for the planet,
Australia warned on Wednesday ahead of a meeting of six nations
to tackle climate change without sacrificing economic growth.

The United States, Japan, China, India, Australia and South
Korea will hold the first meeting of the Asia-Pacific
Partnership for Clean Development and Climate on Thursday — a
pact they say will complement, not rival, the Kyoto Protocol on
greenhouse gas.

But on Wednesday ministers from the six nations will meet
some of the world’s top energy companies, including BHP
Billiton and ExxonMobil, to discuss public/private partnerships
to develop and deliver technologies such as clean coal and
renewable energy.

“Governments and taxpayers simply won’t be able to afford
the sorts of measures that need to be put in place over the
next three to five decades,” Australian Industry Minister Ian
Macfarlane told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.

“There are going to have to be substantial reductions of
greenhouse gas emissions based on the predicted growth in
energy demand, and to do that business will have to play its
role.”

The International Energy Agency has predicted that if
governments stick with current policies, global energy needs
and carbon emissions will be more than 50 percent higher in
2030 than 2005.

According to figures released by the partnership, the six
members account for 45 percent of the world’s population, 48
percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and 48 percent
of the world’s energy consumption.

Government sources told Reuters that the partnership plans
to create a fund to help develop cleaner energy technologies,
which Australia would kickstart with about A$100 million ($75
million).

Macfarlane said while the Asia Pacific Partnership would
run parallel to Kyoto — which requires about 40 developed
countries to cut their emissions by 5.2 percent below 1990
levels during 2008-2012 — the reality was technological
solutions would easily outstrip any Kyoto savings.

Local media reported on Wednesday that major coal producers
such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were promoting a plan to
launch an industry-wide fund by the end of 2006 to develop
clean coal technologies to reduce greenhouse gases.

While the aluminum industry from the six nations was
expected to announce on Thursday a co-operative strategy on
reducing emissions, energy consumption, recycling, The
Australian newspaper said.

“That’s the target — to get breakthroughs in technologies
that are absolutely a matter of life and death for the planet,”
Australian Environment Minister Ian Campbell told Australian
television on Wednesday.

Hundreds of green activists are expected to stage protests
outside the meeting on Wednesday, which also includes business
chiefs from United States’ Rio Tinto, Peabody Energy Corp and
Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp.

“You can’t have a good environment with a damaged economy
and the green groups seem hell bent on trying to destroy the
economy, trying to destroy people’s living standards and
ultimately what happens is you destroy the environment,”
Campbell said.

(Additional reporting by Paul Marriott)