PM blows his climate trumpet

The AGE


November 1, 2006 - 2:44PM


Prime Minister John Howard today took a swipe at long-running international meetings on climate change, lauding his government's practical measures to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr Howard formally announced $60 million in government funding towards 42 collaborative projects under the banner of the Asia-Pacific Clean Development and Climate Partnership (AP6), which also includes China, India, the United States, Japan and South Korea.

He told the audience at the CSIRO's Ensis, a research and development organisation for the forestry industry, the government was taking practical steps to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

"It's all very well to have the international meetings and the conferences and try and reach treaty arrangements and everything, but what has made AP6 work is that we've put that aside and we've focused on practical partnerships," Mr Howard told reporters after his speech.

"That's why we've been able to reach agreement in just nine months on all of these projects.

"That is a great performance. That is a blink of an eye when it comes to these international negotiations."

Mr Howard, who has been under parliamentary pressure from the opposition this week for not ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, said there was a place for negotiation of treaties on climate change and Australia was taking part in the next major international meeting, that of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in Nairobi this month.

"But I think what the AP6 will do is to demonstrate to other countries that practical collaboration is the most immediate way of getting dividends in reducing greenhouse gas emissions," he said.

"People can relate to that. They see it and they understand that this is going to clean up that dirty smoke that comes out of the generators."

Mr Howard said symbolism would not clean up the air.

"Symbolism will not reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Practical methods will and that is what I'm interested in," he said.

"The thing that matters is doing things.

"Talk about hot air. There's an enormous amount of hot air on this issue but what we need are measures which actually achieve results."

AAP