TheStar.com - Harper praises non-Kyoto group as `the kind of initiative the world needs'

Australian Prime Minister John Howard yesterday welcomed the idea of Canada joining the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, which includes countries that have not agreed to the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions.
"Certainly, we would very warmly welcome Canada to join the partnership," Howard told reporters yesterday, after meeting with Stephen Harper at the Prime Minister's summer residence at Harrington Lake.
Harper said he had discussed with Howard the idea of Canada becoming a participant.
"We believe it's the kind of initiative the world needs," Harper said.
The Asia-Pacific Partnership (APP) was formed last summer by the United States and Australia — neither one of which signed the Kyoto Protocol — and includes China, India, Japan and South Korea. The countries collectively produce 50 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. The APP has no compulsory targets for reducing emissions, but focuses on developing new technologies.
"Unless you have the involvement of the major polluters, you're not going to have a serious addressing of the problem," said Howard, who added that the partnership is the first international arrangement that includes China, India and the United States.
Harper agreed that "if we're serious about climate change and controlling the greenhouse gases we clearly have to have an international regime that includes the largest emitters."
He said that China, India, the United States and others are either not part of the Kyoto Protocol or have no targets.
"We in Canada certainly welcome the initiative," Harper said. "As a government that finds itself left 35 per cent behind the Kyoto target with a need to do something, we think it's encouraging."
Harper said nuclear energy will be "an important part of the mix" in Canada's energy future, and Howard pointed out that Canada and Australia together have 43 per cent of the world's uranium reserves and 52 per cent of the world's uranium production.
Harper also said the government is "looking carefully" at a U.S. proposal that would compel uranium exporting countries like Canada to repatriate and dispose of spent nuclear fuel.
Additional articles by Graham Fraser