APEC leaders back off on emissions cut target - draft

By David Fogarty, Climate Change Correspondent, Asia

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asia Pacific leaders are backing away from a target of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, pledging instead to "substantially" slash them by that date, the latest draft of their summit statement says.

The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Singapore is the last major gathering of global decision-makers before a U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen in three weeks meant to ramp up efforts to fight climate change.

"The 50 percent reduction did appear in the draft, but it was very controversial," said Yi Xianliang, counsellor at the department of treaty and law at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who is negotiating in the climate talks.

"If the reduction was in this statement, it might have disrupted negotiations," Yi told a news conference, adding the decision to remove the target was a collective decision.

Hopes have largely been dashed that the Copenhagen meeting will yield a legally binding framework for a new climate deal. Arguments over targets have been a key stumbling block in U.N. negotiations and at other forums, such as the G8.

"I am sorry to say that the political commitment of some countries' leaders and governments are not reflected in the behaviour and actions of the negotiating teams," Li said, referring to the overall climate negotiations. He blamed a "bloc of developed countries" for the impasse.

While the APEC talks are not part of the troubled U.N. climate negotiations, any future emissions goals the 21 members adopt is crucial because the group is responsible for about 60 percent of mankind's greenhouse gas pollution.

"The clock is ticking to Copenhagen," Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd earlier told a news conference. "But when you have gathered in Singapore economies which represent a large part of any final negotiated outcome for Copenhagen, this is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss."