Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate

Australia • China • India • Japan • Republic of Korea • United States

Asia-Pacific Partnership Task Forces

1. Aluminum
2. Buildings and Appliances
3. Cement
4. Cleaner Fossil Energy
5. Coal Mining
6. Power Generation and Transmission
7. Renewable Energy and Distributed Generation
8. Steel

The Partnership involves countries that account for about half of the world’s population and more than half of the world’s economy and energy use.

From Launch to Implementation

The Asia-Pacific Partnership was launched at a Ministerial meeting in Sydney, in January 2006. Partners agreed to a multi-sector work program designed to build on successful partnership approaches through eight public-private Task Forces covering major energy-intensive sectors in Partner economies. In April in Berkeley, California, Task Forces met to begin developing Action Plans for these sectors. The Partners endorsed plans containing nearly 100 individual projects and activities in Jeju, Korea, on October 13.

The Task Force Action Plans focus on undertaking concrete activities. These Plans will promote the deployment and transfer of clean and innovative technologies, energy efficiency and best practices throughout Partner countries. Examples of activities endorsed by the Partners:

• Assessing geological carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage opportunities and identifying potential storage sites. This could result in millions of tons of CO₂ removed from the air.
• Helping provide customized power solutions based on local fuel sources in rural areas. Gasified biomass-fueled engines can provide power to some of the millions of rural residents who lack adequate or reliable power.
• Sharing best practices and technologies to improve efficiency and environmental performance of power generation. Simple improvements can increase efficiency by over 1.5 percent, and reduce India’s CO₂ emissions by over 10 million tons per year.
• Identifying energy-saving practices and clean technology options for steel facilities.
• Working to reduce emissions of perfluorocarbons, extremely potent greenhouse gases. This can eliminate 15-20 million tons of CO₂-equivalent per year in China – equal to 20 mid-sized coal power plants.
• Identifying incentives to reduce the CO₂-intensity of cement production and deploying cleaner manufacturing technology.
• Sharing coal cleaning approaches that can reduce sulfur dioxide emissions 20-25 percent, improve public health and reduce acid rain at minimal cost.
• Working to reduce building energy use by decreasing the power demand of appliances, office and consumer electronics, and lighting. Cost-effective efficiency improvements in existing buildings can reduce energy use by 10-15 percent.

U.S. Funding

The United States Government has proposed $52 million in funding to support the work of the Partnership as part of the President’s Fiscal Year 2007 Budget.