Asia-Pacific Partnership Yields Renewable Energy and Efficiency Projects

Nov 8, 2006 EERE Network News

Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Dr. Paula J. Dobriansky today announced that the United States and the other five Partner nations of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate have endorsed detailed Action Plans and nearly 100 collaborative projects and activities to implement this initiative. The announcement was made in remarks to experts from all Partner nations gathered in Columbus, Ohio, to attend a week-long series of site visits organized and hosted by American Electric Power, one of the private sector partners.

The Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate is a unique public-private initiative among government and private sector partners from Australia, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United States. These six countries account for about half of the world's population and more than half of the world's economy and energy use. The first Ministerial meeting of the Asia-Pacific Partnership took place in Sydney, Australia, in January 2006. At that meeting, the Ministers agreed to a Partnership Communiqué, Charter, and Work Plan that established eight public-private sector Task Forces.

At the Partnership's Policy and Implementation Committee meeting in Jeju, Korea, on October 11-13, 2006, the six Partner nations endorsed Action Plans for all eight Task Forces. The Task Forces are organized by sector or industry and include public-private teams: (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, and (8) Steel.

Endorsement of the Action Plans, which include detailed projects and activities, launches the implementation phase of the Partnership. It begins an ongoing series of multifaceted programs designed to implement cleaner, cost-effective energy technologies and practices among the Partner nations. The programs focus on sharing best practices; identifying legal, regulatory and market barriers; research and development; and several demonstration projects. Fact sheets about the eight Action Plans and associated projects are available at: www.state.gov/app.

The Partnership seeks to identify policies and deploy technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote healthier air quality, advance sustained economic growth, and reduce poverty. It focuses on voluntary practical measures to create new investment opportunities, build local capacity, improve economic and energy security, and help conserve the environment.