Vision Statement of Australia, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the U.S. for a New Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate

Development and poverty eradication are urgent and overriding goals internationally. The World Summit on Sustainable Development made clear the need for increased access to affordable, reliable and cleaner energy and the international community agreed in the Delhi Declaration on Climate Change and Sustainable Development on the importance of the development agenda in considering any climate change approach.

We each have different natural resource endowments, and sustainable development and energy strategies, but we are already working together and will continue to work to achieve common goals. By building on the foundation of existing bilateral and multilateral initiatives, we will enhance cooperation to meet both our increased energy needs and associated challenges, including those related to air pollution, energy security, and greenhouse gas intensities.

To this end, we will work together, in accordance with our respective national circumstances, to create a new partnership to develop, deploy and transfer cleaner, more efficient technologies and to meet national pollution reduction, energy security and climate change concerns, consistent with the principles of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The partnership will collaborate to promote and create an enabling environment for the development, diffusion, deployment and transfer of existing and emerging cost-effective, cleaner technologies and practices, through concrete and substantial cooperation so as to achieve practical results. Areas for collaboration may include, but not be limited to: energy efficiency, clean coal, integrated gasification combined cycle, liquefied natural gas, carbon capture and storage, combined heat and power, methane capture and use, civilian nuclear power, geothermal, rural/village energy systems, advanced transportation, building and home construction and operation, bioenergy, agriculture and forestry, hydropower, wind power, solar power, and other renewables.

The partnership will also cooperate on the development, diffusion, deployment and transfer of longer-term transformational energy technologies that will promote economic growth while enabling significant reductions in greenhouse gas intensities. Areas for mid- to long-term collaboration may include, but not be limited to: hydrogen, nanotechnologies, advanced biotechnologies, next-generation nuclear fission, and fusion energy.

The partnership will share experiences in developing and implementing our national sustainable development and energy strategies, and explore opportunities to reduce the greenhouse gas intensities of our economies.

We will develop a non-binding compact in which the elements of this shared vision, as well as the ways and means to implement it, will be further defined. In particular, we will consider establishing a framework for the partnership, including institutional and financial arrangements and ways to include other interested and like-minded countries.

The partnership will also help the partners build human and institutional capacity to strengthen cooperative efforts, and will seek opportunities to engage the private sector. We will review the partnership on a regular basis to ensure its effectiveness.

The partnership will be consistent with and contribute to our efforts under the UNFCCC and will complement, but not replace, the Kyoto Protocol.