APEC draft climate statement seen a compromise

By Jalil Hamid

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asia-Pacific officials agreed on Friday to a draft climate statement which reaffirms a U.N. treaty on fighting global warming, while urging non-binding "aspirational targets" for greenhouse gas reductions, a delegate said.

But the climate statement, which has emerged after tough negotiations following a split between developing and developed members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, remains to be agreed to by the 21 Asia-Pacific leaders.

"Its a compromise statement," an Asian delegate at the APEC Sydney forum told Reuters, adding it reaffirms the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and backs "aspirational targets," proposed by Australia.

"Clearly the countries got what they wanted in the draft."

Host Australian Prime Minister John Howard placed climate change at the top of the APEC agenda, seeking a post-Kyoto Protocol consensus to be called the "Sydney Declaration."

Green groups have said the APEC leaders' summit would be a failure if it did not agree to binding greenhouse gas reduction targets, but Howard has said no binding targets will be set.

Howard has pushed for "aspirational targets" and for each nation to set their own climate change goals.

Developing economies -- including China -- are strongly opposed to any wording that commits them to binding targets and some say they would prefer climate change goals be handled at a U.N. meeting later this month.