Harper talks up the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate
While meeting with Australian PM John Howard, Steven Harper hinted that Canada may join the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APPCDC), while removing itself from the global Kyoto agreement. The Asia-Pacific Partnership focuses on technology transfers to limit emissions. Unlike Kyoto it does not have set emission levels. The set emission levels of Kyoto never seemed to matter to Canada anyway. We're 35% above our 1990 emission levels when our target is 6% below those levels.
While the APPCDC doesn't have enforceable goals, it isn't necessarily a waste of time or effort. It's member countries (the USA, China, Japan, India, Australia, & South Korea) make up for about 50% of world emissions. If newer technology development is indeed encouraged under the agreement, and then transferred from the more advanced countries to countries with large and growing emissions like China and India it could take a bite out of global emissions.
While in the long term coal isn't a solution to energy problems, clean coal technology can at least make it a more palatable short term solution. The major problem with clean coal technology is the hesitance of governments to mandate it's usage. This is an area agreements like APPCDC could make a difference. They could buy rights to the technology, and freely distribute/subsidize it to at least temporarily reduce emissions.
In the long term, nuclear power is going to play a big part in supplying energy while reducing emissions. Tony Blair, George Bush, John Howard, and Steven Harper all recently suggested that new nuclear development is likely in the future. This could be a boon for Canada's uranium mining industry and possibiily even lead to sales of some Candu reactors depending upon which countries are involved in new development. The issue of waste disposal/protection is still debatable.
The Americans have recently suggested the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) which would encourage new nuclear development while trying to track fuel from mining, through usage, and ultimately disposal. It may make uranium exporting coutries like Canada responsible for waste disposal. The goal is to encourage nuclear develoment in more countries while not increasing the number of nuclear waste sites. This avoids increasing the likelihood of waste "going missing."
The GNEP is an interesting proposal, and could potentially greatly reduce global CO2 emissions (especially if electric transportation technology improves and usage increases). However, it will be a very hard sell to the citizens of countries like Canada and Australia.
News Story: http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=4470fea8-8f09-4e06-80b7-801f2e9116df&k=77828